


Shifting Worlds

by KittyCatGracey



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Aged up Zuko, Aged-Up Character(s), Airbending & Airbenders, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Badass, Bending (Avatar), Big sister OFC, Canon Compliant, Caretaking, Crazy Azula (Avatar), Crossover, Dimension Travel, Earthbending & Earthbenders, Energy-bending, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Firebending & Firebenders, Fun, Magic, Not much HP, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Powerful, Protective Zuko (Avatar), Rich - Freeform, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Waterbending & Waterbenders, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, magic is energy, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:48:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 29
Words: 117,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24489274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittyCatGracey/pseuds/KittyCatGracey
Summary: She fought in one war, only to be thrust into another. Well... at least the second one seemed easier... Right?Being a half-blood was hell on Earth during Voldemort's war, but she had made it through. She had once had one of the most promising futures as an International Dueling Champion, having already won several trophies and titles. She would even bet that she knew more magic than the Malfoy's. But none of that mattered because her mum was muggleborn. With her parents dead, her home destroyed and no other family, she didn’t have much tying her to Britain anymore.That was lucky since she didn't think she would see Britain again...***Undergoing minor editing but still posting new chapters!***
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 108
Kudos: 406





	1. Struck

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Avatar or Harry Potter or anything from them. This was written all for fun and I get no gain from it other than nice comments from other fans of these fandoms. 
> 
> With that said, just a few authors notes:  
> \- My character's name is pronounced like this: Aika = Eye-ka; Aikaterina = E-kat-e-ri-na. I know, a bit confusing, but it will be explained. She is everything I wish I could be, magically powerful, smart, rich, independent and badass. Or I hope she is anyway.
> 
> \- Please remember, she is an overly prepared Ravenclaw with parents who were all for education and learning and was rarely in Britain during her younger years and over summers. Think Hermione's beaded bag but with way more because she had heaps of time to prepare it and stockpile. She also has a pureblood dad, so his family has more magical stuff than most. So if she randomly has something awesome or useful or fun in her bag of tricks, just accept it.
> 
> \- This story mostly follows canon from Avatar. Not much of the HP world is in this one except what my character brings with her. She will not change much, even if she knows the future. She just uses it in battle, or if she wants something to hurry along.
> 
> \- Everything in Harry Potter happened ten years laters so the Second Wizarding War ended in May 2008 to coincide with the series end of Avatar. This story begins in Oct 2008.
> 
> UPDATE: I've aged Zuko up a few years. His Agni Kai happened when he was 15 and he has been on his search for the Avatar with Iroh for 4 years, so he's 19, almost 20. As I was writing, his age just seemed weird to me... Also changed Aika's age to seventeen, since she would have to be since she was in her final year at Hogwarts at the start of the story. Sorry!
> 
> Please be kind in any comment you leave. I'm writing mainly for me but I wanted to share it.
> 
> Enjoy!

Everyone else was in their common rooms, surrounded by friends and warm fires. The thunder shook the castle, and the lightning cracked so loud that some of the smaller children had been afraid at dinner. Aika wasn’t scared. Not of lightning and thunder at least. She loved storms, the purest form of nature at its most violent and destructive. Her father used to say that storms were nature’s way of restoring balance in the world and the calm that usually came before them was the time when nature judged how badly the imbalance was. 

It hadn’t rained since the downfall of Voldemort, since Harry Potter had killed him once and for all. So Aikaterina knew this storm was going to be horrid. 

The last year had been hell on Earth for Aika. Her mother was murdered by Death Eaters for being a Muggleborn and her father for marrying her. Her half-blood status had saved her life, but had not protected her from torture. Being a Ravenclaw, she had been smart about it, kept her head down, not made any trouble, had downplayed her abilities to make her seem weak enough to not be a threat. 

No one in Hogwarts knew she was an international duelling champion with five titles to her name, except, of course, her Head of House Professor Flitwick. Before the war, she barely had any friends, she had not participated in any groups or clubs, and had not drawn attention to herself. She hated Britain and had wanted no ties to it when she graduated. She supposed she was thankful for that. Her mother and father had been planning to move the family to Australia and had already put all their things in their Gringotts vault by the time the Death Eaters came. No precious family heirlooms had been lost when they had burned down their house. When she had heard they were murdered, she had immediately gone to the bank, just like they had instructed her to. She emptied the vaults before the Death Eaters or Ministry had a chance to claim anything because she had not been seventeen yet at the time, but the Goblins recognised her emancipation via her parents' will and had granted her request. 

Since then, she had been ready to run at a moment's notice. She had kept a go-bag on her at all times, shrunken down to fit in her inner robe pocket. It was a super-extension charmed bag which contained everything precious or useful to her, including two spare wands (bought overseas where the rules were more relaxed), all the money and items from her parent’s Gringotts vaults, food under stasis, potions and a few ingredients to make more, books, even her father's wizard-space tent. She had no ties to anything or anyone anymore and she was not helpless, even if those around her believed her to be. To this day, even with the war over, she couldn’t bring herself to go anywhere without the bag, a safety net that only she knew about, her security against the world.

She caught sight of her reflection in the darkened window. Waist-length dark auburn hair, unlike Ginny Weasley from Gryffindor whose hair was bright red, and ice-blue eyes, pale skin tone and a slim figure which she kept in shape through duelling exercises. She got her colouring from her father, but most of her features from her mother, inheriting a figure and short stature, small nose and a slightly elongated face. If it weren’t for the features, no one would have assumed that she and her mother were related in any way, since she had had dark eyes and dark hair, being of distant Japanese descent. 

It’s also why she had her name. They couldn’t decide between a name of Greek descent, a tradition of her father’s family, or her mother's Japanese one. They had opted for both, a Greek sounding full name and a Japanese sounding nickname.

She closed her eyes against the wave of memories that threatened to overtake her. She could hear her mother laughing as they watched cartoons on Saturday mornings, their favourite, time-honoured tradition and the only truly ‘muggle’ thing they had done. She could distantly hear her father’s exaggerated groan when they would team up against him in the duelling ring, even though he would win more often than not.

Her thoughts were interrupted quickly, thank Merlin. “Miss Grimm,” Professor Flitwick called from behind her. 

Turning, she asked, “Yes, Professor?”

He walked up to her kindly and smiled sadly. “Are you coming to the common room? It’s curfew for you in two hours, but in this weather, we want everyone inside as soon as possible.”

She shrugged. “I’ll be back by curfew Professor. But I think I want to walk for a while.”

He sighed, “Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you haven’t slept for more than a few hours each night. You’re up before the sun every morning.” Flitwick had always been her favourite professor, and frankly, the only person she properly spoke to in the castle anymore. He constantly told her that she was his star pupil and they used to have duelling practice every Sunday afternoon.

She shrugged again, looking away. “I’m not… Well… I… It’s the castle. I don’t feel safe anymore. I feel…”

“You feel trapped.” 

She looked at him, shocked. “How?”

He smiled, “I would like to think I know you better than I know most of my students, Aikaterina.” She scowled at his use of her full name and he chuckled, “Aika.”

She looked away again, her gaze locked on the window as a flash of lightning lit up the corridor. “I can’t sleep when I don’t feel safe. I sleep out of sheer exhaustion.”

“I don’t usually recommend this, but you are seventeen. You’ve done your OWLS so they can’t take your wand. You already know more magic than most learn in their lifetime. Go, Aika. Go somewhere where you can feel safe again,” with that, the half-goblin professor she had come to admire so much, her mentor, turned and walked back to the Ravenclaw common room.

Aika stood at the window, gazing out for a few more minutes. She could just make out the outline of the Black Lake. And another outline, a person. She squinted harder. The person was trapped in the storm. With instincts that she would later look back on and determine as wholly Gryffindor-ish - that is, courageous and exceedingly stupid - she ran down the corridor and down the steps to in the Grand Staircase towards the Black Lake. Taking out her wand, she cast multiple charms on herself as she ran, making herself waterproof and less likely to be carried away by the wind. Knowing that these charms didn’t last forever, she propelled herself as fast as she could go towards the Lake.

When she got to the spot where she had seen the figure, there was no one there so she yelled, “Hey! Is there anyone here?” At first she thought her voice had been carried away by the fierce winds, because no one answered. She called out over and over, searched up and down the shoreline of the lake. Thunder clapped above her and lightning flashed angrily. The lightning speared down into the middle of the lake, causing a massive wave that she couldn’t hope to outrun. She quickly cast a charm to make her stick to the ground, so she wouldn’t be dragged about by the wave, but with such an onslaught, the waterproof charms couldn’t hold and she was drenched. “Shit!” she cursed. “Fuck, it’s cold!”

Her hair stuck to her face, blinding her momentarily. Thunder crashed above her again, so loud that her ears rang. With her hair in her face, her hearing compromised and the charm that stuck her feet to the ground still active, it was no wonder that she had absolutely no chance of dodging the lightning.

It struck her hard and fast. One second, she was reaching up and then next, she was in the most excruciating pain that she had ever felt. Even the times she had been placed under the cruciatus curse had nothing on this. It burnt her inside and out. And then she was falling.

***

She remembered floating, like when she had started learning how to swim in the lake behind their house. She remembered being calm, feeling safe for the first time in two years.

She remembered a voice, whispering words that she couldn’t really hear. She remembered trying to get the person to speak up, but she couldn’t get her own voice to work. She remembered a hand on her forehead, on her arm, her chest and her leg, and the faint burning sensation faded away completely. Then she was falling again. Voices again, calling out to her.

She woke up and was immediately cold. She had never felt so cold in her life and she knew Scottish Winters. It was freezing. She hurried to sit up but sharp pain emanating from her ribs stopped her. Small hands gently pushed her back down. “Don’t move. You’ve got a nasty cut on your ribs,” a soft female voice warned. Aika’s brain caught up with her body and memories assaulted her, making her gasp and hyperventilate. The hand moved her shoulder, squeezing it in a comforting gesture. “It’s okay. We found you in time. You’ll be okay.”

Aika drifted back out of consciousness.

It was a few days of drifting in and out before Aika could stay awake for more than an hour. She was mostly eating and drinking before sleeping again. When she woke again on the fourth day, she felt much stronger. She sat up without help for the first time and looked around properly. Where the hell… Was she in an igloo? Did the storm become a blizzard?

And what happened to warming charms?! It was fucking freezing!

She carefully manoeuvred herself, searching for her things. She knew she would have had her go-bag on her and that she had packed a puffy snow jacket, prepared for all occasions, including Scottish winters. She saw a pile of black cloth lined with blue in the corner of the igloo, her uniform! Unfortunately, they were no more than rags, but she frantically searched the pockets and the sleeve for her bag and her wand.

After a minute of absolute panic, she managed to find both. When her wand connected with her hand, she was relieved to feel the familiar hum of energy. She was glad that no one was in the igloo with her at the moment, as her wand decided to release an amazing flurry of colourful sparks, welcoming the connection once again. Quickly muttering a spell in case someone came in, she confirmed that everything she had was still in her bag and no one had tried to get into it. She had a series of nasty hexes and curses linked to it that would activate on anyone who tried to get into it. 

“Oh! You’re awake again!” she heard behind her. Quickly turning, she saw a teenage girl, younger than herself, with bright blue eyes, darker skin tone, and brown hair, her fringe tied into strange strands in front of her face. She was wearing a blue parka lined with white fur and boots. She looked like a cross between a traditional Inuit and a modern-day snow bunny. “My name is Katara,” she announced. 

“I’m Aika,” she replied.

“You’ve been in and out for so long, Aika, we were worried you wouldn’t make it,” she said, reaching out to her shoulder. “Please sit, so you don’t hurt yourself further.” Aika complied, mainly because her ribs were screaming in protest to the way she was hunched. “How did you get all the way out here?”

Aika shook her head. “I don’t even know where here is, Katara. I’m sorry.”

“Oh! You’re with the Southern Water Tribe in the South Pole.”

Aika’s jaw dropped. Then she used a finger to clean out her ears, thinking something must be stuck there and she didn’t hear her correctly. “Come again?”

Katara frowned slightly, “You’re in the South Pole. My brother, Sokka and I found you while we were out fishing.” Aika didn’t respond. Something was nagging at her. Something about their names and the names of this place was ringing dull bells in the back of her mind…”Did you want anything to eat? I can get you some soup?”

Katara didn’t wait for a response before leaving the igloo. 

Aika immediately began firing off location spells to try and determine where she was. Her latitude and longitude did indeed put her in Antarctica, but it was… off. The resonance of the spell didn’t feel like it should have. 

Digging for an enchanted map in her charmed bag (she had everything in here), she activated it. “What the fuck?”

This map was a family heirloom that had been handed down her father’s family for ages. The map was able to pinpoint your location and then plot it against the nearest cities and countries by using the leylines of magical energy in the Earth. You could zoom in and out to show just around you, or your location respective to the rest of the world. It was colour coded to show water and land and each dot on the map represented an area populated by humans, the bigger the dot, the higher the population. It never showed city names, unless you tapped your wand to it and whispered the current name of the city. Her father had told her that that was because city names always changed. 

It was accurate 100% of the time. 

But… this had to be wrong. So very wrong.

The map showed shapes and land masses that she had never seen before in her life! What the actual hell!

She was staring at it in shock that she never heard Katara come back in. “Where did you get that map? I’m sure I didn’t see it on you before.”

Aika glanced up in surprise. “Oh, um, it was in a hidden pocket of my clothes, along with my bag,” she offered, knowing that the girl would notice the bag later on.

“Oh!” Katara sat down with the soup in her hands, offering it to Aika. “Here. Eat.”

Aika grabbed the bowl, “Thanks.” The soup she found was rather bland and fishy tasting, but she was really hungry, so she ate without complaint.

“My brother Sokka wants me to ask you if you are Fire Nation.” Katara casually said after a few minutes of silence.

Aika frowned. Why did she know that name? “Sorry?”

“My brother is a little overprotective of the tribe since he is the oldest male here. Everyone else went to fight in the war against the Fire Nation. But you don’t look like Fire Nation and your clothes were blue and black, not red, so are you from the Water Tribe?”

Aika played it safe until she knew what was going on and where she really was. “Uhhh.... Sorry, I can’t remember.”

Katara gasped, a gloved hand coming up over her mouth. “Oh no! I’m so sorry! Do you remember anything? Your family?”

Looking down into her bowl, Aika muttered, “I remember that I don’t have any family.”

Katara immediately launched at the older girl, wrapping her in a hug. Aika’s eyes widened and she stiffened. Sensing that Aika was uncomfortable with the contact, Katara released her but sat close. Rather than let the awkward silence continue, Katara spent the time Aika was eating by recounting the history of the Southern Water Tribe and the war. On the final spoonful, Katara concluded with, “And I’m a waterbender!”

Aika spat out her soup.


	2. The South Pole

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.
> 
> Edited: 18 July 2020

Her mother used to say: Every story or tale we tell ourselves is real for someone else.

Aika had no idea she meant that literally! 

The word _waterbender_ had been the nail in the coffin. 

She was stuck in another realm. 

Aika knew that the existence of other realms was possible, in theory. One of her magical duelling tutors from China had been a foremost expert on magical theory and had postulated that other worlds existed and it was possible to travel there under extreme conditions if the magic in that realm resonated with your own. Aika couldn’t remember the details (theory was never her strong suit) but she did remember that he had said something about how dimension travel could be similar to time travel, that they just had to connect with the right frequency. And something about String Theory that had totally gone in one ear and out the other. He believed that dreams were actually connecting to other realms and if you could control your dream walking, you could connect with people in other dimensions.

But this… A world of a cartoon. This was not possible.

Unless some muggle had managed to dream walk and travel to this particular dimension… Nope. Crazy.

Being a half-blood, she had a tradition of watching cartoons on Saturdays with her mum and Avatar was one of her all-time favourites. It was a TV show! A great one, but not real!

And yet, here she was, eating a meal with Katara, Sokka and their Gran-Gran, Kanna.

Sokka had thoroughly interrogated her and once he was satisfied that she was not from the Fire Nation, he was actually an okay person. A bit wacky and slightly sexist, but decent. And on occasion, he was funny. That night, after everyone had gone to bed, she grabbed her bag and downed a Wiggenweld potion to speed up her healing, and cast multiple episkey charms to heal the various cuts and bruises that littered her skin. She found her magic was actually stronger here in this world, which was odd, but considering that she looked and felt a hundred times better than she did before, she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Katara had looked at her strangely for a few moments the next morning, but she hadn’t questioned it. And so began the tour around the small village, the few comments on her hair by the elder women of the tribe. 

A few days later she got into the rhythm of how things worked around the village. She basically followed Katara and helped her, except when she and her brother went out hunting or fishing. Kanna would take her to start sewing clothes and things, teaching her along the way.

All she could say was thank Merlin for magic. Aika was used to living in a castle, or a nice manor house or even her tent. She had never slept in an igloo on the ground, and it wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences. Thankfully, she was saved from cold food with discreet warming charms, and from needing to wash too often by cleaning charms. In fact, she had cast every cleaning charm she knew on herself when she was left alone in the bathing igloo. It couldn’t beat a hot soapy shower, but she didn’t feel like dirt, sweat and grime was stuck to her either. Communication hadn’t been an issue, she had quickly figured out that their language was closest to Chinese Mandarin, with some odd inflections here and there. She wasn’t fluent in Mandarin, but she was good enough to hold a basic conversation. After the first night, she had pulled on one of her ancestor’s amulets that allowed for language translation, so now, she spoke in English and heard them speak in English, but they heard their language whenever she spoke to them. It was a handy little amulet. 

Funnily enough, she didn’t really miss too much about home. What did she have to go back to anyway? Being an orphan? Having no family? No friends? Besides, she had all of her belongings with her in her bag anyway. She had left nothing and no one behind. After three months of being here, the pain of her old life was finally starting to heal. She was accepted as a new member of the Southern Water Tribe, as an older sibling to Sokka and Katara. Kanna showed her the ways of the Tribe and she helped them all. She was greeted fondly and smiled at by everyone she came across. She had taken over some of the classes for the children, once she had learned, of course, freeing up Kanna’s burden a little bit.

At night, she huddled around the fire with Sokka and Katara, where they told her stories of their childhood, some making her smile and laugh, others making her sad. They had grown up so fast after their mother had been killed and their father had gone to fight in the war. Her heart ached for the pain and sadness that they had had to endure, understanding it in a way that most never could. War had taken her parents too. However, unlike Katara and Sokka, her parents had been tortured by maniacs, by monsters who enjoyed the thrill of torture more than the kill. They didn’t have to live with the way their parents’ killers had bragged about it to their face as they tortured them too. At least they still had one parent, no matter how far away he was, and an extended family in their Tribe.

The more she spent time with her new small makeshift family, the less the nightmares haunted her. She could actually sleep some nights now. However, while she believed she was healing, she probably wasn’t as much as she would like. Honestly, if she really analysed her feelings and engaged in some self-reflection, something she would hardly ever do because it fucking hurt, she would find that she was compartmentalising, not so much getting over the past but pushing it aside, shifting her perspective to help her cope. 

She had developed an ‘old world’ and ‘new world’ mentality. In the ‘old world’ lied pain, suffering, a brutal wizarding war that had ripped everything and everyone she loved from her, almost killed her. In the ‘new world’ she had hope again, but she also had a feeling of control over her own life once again. In the old world, she was falling apart, she had no control, she had been subjected to the mercy of sadists and murderers, she had endured, barely survived. In the new world, she was gaining power and strength, combined with the skill she knew she had, and the knowledge that whatever she did, no one could really stand in her way. Magic could only really be fought with magic, they had no real way of countering that here. It was an… intoxicating feeling, one that she was sometimes consumed with when she breathed in the bitterly cold morning air; when the constant sun rays of the South Pole reflected off her skin; when she performed her little feats of wandless magic; when she went for walks beyond the village to a more secluded area to practice her magic against snowmen.

Right now, she was finishing up some lessons with the children while their mothers helped out around the village with the chores. It was easier for the chores to be completed when they didn’t have to care for squirming, hyperactive children at the same time. It used to be Kanna’s job, but she had taken over for her, allowing Kanna to rest or help the other women with the more difficult chores. Meanwhile, Katara and Sokka were out trying to catch fish, emphasis on trying. Sokka never brought back more than a fish at a time and Katara was usually there for moral support more than anything else. The day dragged out slowly, as it always did when the sun constantly shone for six months of the year. It was getting really late, with dinner having been eaten and packed away and she was just about to go to sleep, when she heard Sokka and Katara in the distance. When she saw who they had brought with them, hoisted over Sokka’s shoulder, she blanched. Aang. She had fallen into such an easy routine that she had almost forgotten what would happen. 

When she saw who they had brought with them, hoisted over Sokka’s shoulder, she blanched. Aang. She had fallen into such an easy routine that she had almost forgotten what would happen.

Aika slept fitfully that night and after failing to stay asleep for the seventh time, decided to get up for a stroll. It must have been really early because only Kanna and some of the other elders were awake. She greeted them on her way out of the village. She had to think.

She knew what was going to happen, she knew what they encountered, every step of their journey. She didn’t have the best memory, she knew some parts better than others, but she knew. While Hogwarts castle was being repaired, and because she had no home, she had stayed in a cheaper hotel just outside London proper for a few months, and she had kept up the Saturday morning tradition of cartoons, in honour of her mother. She had finished the series.

What should she do? She had the knowledge and the power to change their course, but should she? Or should she just go along for the ride? Because there was no doubt in her mind that she would go with them. She could definitely admit to herself that she had been bored with the tiny village life. She could probably have lived with it for a little while more before her wanderlust would have consumed her. Other than Hogwarts, she hadn’t stayed in one place for too long and even then, she had had special permission to participate in duels all over the world during her Hogwarts years. She hadn’t stayed in the castle without a few days away for more than four months at a time. She missed the travelling, the learning, the adrenaline rushes. She wanted adventure and this would be perfect!

Maybe she should go along for the ride and subtly change things here and there? But what about all the people who got hurt, who died? There were so many variables. Aika knew she wasn’t brave, she would have been sorted into Gryffindor if she were. But she was a Ravenclaw, and she knew that dangerous things happen to wizards who meddle with time. 

But, she wasn’t changing time, was she? She was in a whole other dimension! Was dimension travel different to time travel? 

Honestly, she thought she had reacted quite well to being shoved into a universe not her own. If she had been a muggle, she would have panicked and hyperventilated left and right. Being a witch meant that she faced and did the impossible regularly and defied the laws of reason and science on a daily basis. If she came from a world where magic was real, then why couldn’t a world where element manipulation be real too? But the appearance of Aang somehow made it more real; she was inside a world she knew about already. Inside a world where she knew the future, or at least a likely future now that she was here. 

And that made all the difference, didn’t it? Because another Ravenclaw from her year at Hogwarts, Lovegood, had some form of the Sight. While they had hardly communicated, Aika knew that the creatures Luna encountered was her way of making sense of the things she could see. And while Luna might See something, Aika knew that the girl had acted to change what she Saw if she needed to. Aika had seen Luna do it a few times during the year from hell.

The more she thought about it, the more she decided that she would more or less just go with it. See where the adventure would take her. She could plan and try to predict all she could, but she was smart enough to realise that it would all just go up in smoke. The consequences of her being here would reveal themselves in time. But she had another issue. In this new world, she could do whatever she wanted without fear of the law or someone more powerful than her. Who could stop her? The Avatar? Maybe, but he would be the only one. She wouldn’t have to use Dark magic to gain strength over others like the Death Eaters had to, she could end the war there and then and no one could really stop her. She could become Empress of the fucking World and no one could oppose her. That thought scared her. It was that kind of thinking that turned witches and wizards Dark. It was that kind of thinking that had killed her parents. 

No. She wouldn’t do it. She would go along for the ride, but ultimately, this would be their adventure, not hers. She had gone through her war, and had learned her life lessons from it. She would help, but she wouldn’t interfere. 

Before she knew it, she was back in the village and Aang was performing his airbending techniques on his glider, just like he had… before. It felt wrong to compare the real people in front of her to a cartoon. Hell, they hadn’t even been 3D characters! These were real, living breathing humans! Calling it ‘before’ seemed… easier. 

“Aika! Look! This is Aang! He’s an airbender!”

She snorted softly, “I can see that Katara.” Aang promptly flew head-on into the village's watchtower, causing his head to be stuck in its side. Katara covered her mouth (Aika was unsure whether she was concerned about him or hiding laughter) as she watched Aang struggle to extricate his head from the icy watchtower. Succeeding, he tumbled down onto a pile of snow at the base of the tower that crumbled from the building. Katara immediately rushed to his side in concern while Sokka stared in shock at the damage inflicted on his poor watchtower. He stalked angrily over to them..

Aika followed leisurely, not really concerned. She heard Aang ask Katara, “You're a waterbender?”

“Well, sort of. Not yet,” she nervously replied. 

When Aika reached Katara’s side, he immediately announced, “Hi! I’m Aang!”

Aika smiled at the young excitable boy with an arrow on his head. Seeing him now, she wondered how heartless someone would have to be to shove the burden of being the Avatar onto this sweet thing. He was cute, sweet, innocent and everything she used to be before the wizarding war. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Aang. My name is Aika.”

His smile widened impossibly. “Are you a bender too? Katara is a waterbender and I’m an airbender!”

Aika laughed. “I’m not an elemental bender, unfortunately, Aang.” Her answer had obviously disappointed him but he quickly cheered up when some children called him away. Kanna had called Katara over while she had been speaking to Aang, and so she followed, catching the end of the conversation.

“...he is full of much wisdom,” Katara was saying. She glanced at Aang, who had his tongue stuck to his glider. Wisdom, huh? Aika raised her eyebrow at Katara and Kanna sighed.

As Katara moved away to start her chores, Kanna pulled the older teenager aside. “Aika, I know you have not been here long, but can I ask if you could please keep an eye on my granddaughter? She is young and full of hope still. I fear she will get hurt.”

Aika looked at the time-weary woman and nodded solemnly. “Of course I will, Gran-Gran. She’s a sweet girl. Her heart is in the right place. And Sokka has grown on me too. I’ll confess he took longer though.”

Kanna chuckled. “Yes, that boy is a handful. Reminds me of his father.”

“I’ll bet,” Aika grinned.

Both the elder woman and young woman looked over to Sokka who was, at that moment, standing in front of six uninterested little boys, pacing to and fro, his arms behind his back, with a stern expression on his face. “Now men, it's important that you show no fear when you face a firebender!” He brought out his club and held it up proudly. “In the Water Tribe, we fight to the last man standing! For without courage, how can we call ourselves men?” He clenched his fist to emphasize the word ‘men’ as he stared down at his small audience. 

Aika and Kanna shared a conspiratory chuckle at his antics, before Kanna wrapped her hand in Aika’s and led her away. They chuckled harder when they heard one of the boys call out to Sokka, “I gotta pee!”


	3. First Encounters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.

When Aika had promised Kanna she would look out for Katara, she had forgotten that the younger girl was currently completely fascinated with an adventurous young airbender. When the flare went up, she almost facepalmed. Shit.

However, she knew that this particular encounter needed to occur. The next few hours would set the entire adventure in motion. She couldn’t interfere with this one. Well, maybe a little bit, after Aang was taken onto the ship. Sokka and Katara had to agree to go after Aang and go to the North Pole together. 

So when the two kids came back, she did not say one word. She didn’t say anything when Aang was asked to leave the village, and she was quiet when Sokka and Kanna argued with Katara. Sokka immediately began preparing the village for the Fire Nation Navy.

It was only about thirty minutes later when Sokka stood atop the wall surrounding the village in battle gear, overlooking the foggy horizon. The waiting was bugging her. She suddenly jerked upright upon hearing a loud, cracking noise. The surrounding villagers also turned around in fright to see what the source of the noise was. Kanna, sitting on a nearby log by a campfire, rose and gasped. Suddenly, the ground began to quake and a rumbling sound was heard in the distance. Kanna gasped louder this time and her face contorted in horror. Aika was no stranger to those faces. She used to see them every time someone was called in for detention with the Carrows. Bits of the village wall was cracking and breaking off with the vibrations. One of Sokka’s watchtowers on the wall shook under the pressure of the trembling and completely collapsed.

The enormous Fire Nation ship approached slowly and ominously, splintering the ice and creating a large crack that quickly travelled toward the village and over the wall. She saw Katara helping her grandmother into a tent when she heard a frightened scream. Aika gasped when she realised the sound came from a small boy, kneeling on the ground. The fissure in the ice rapidly approached him, but Aika quickly ran over and scooped up the child before the ground splinters underneath. She set the child down again in front of a tent which he quickly entered, and both girls turned back to view Sokka.

Hysterically, Katara yelled, “Sokka, get out of the way!”

Sokka, instead, raised his club in defence, ready to strike. Before he could make his move, however, the bow crumbled a large portion of the wall into snowy ruins. The snow fell downward, pushing Sokka several feet back before he came to a halt. With a loud hiss of steam, the ship comes to a halt. The villagers curiously started to emerge from hiding and stared in complete shock at the large vessel. Aika looked over at Katara, who was gaping openly; she gasped. Aika caught sight of the bow of the ship opening and creaking forward in a burst of steam, forming a walkway. Sokka backed up and fell to the ground once the bow hit the ground with a loud thud. The villagers gathered closer around for support and several people even covered their eyes. Katara took a step back upon noticing the shape of three figures cloaked in the mist. Aika stood her ground. She knew what was coming.

Prince Zuko descended from the ship along with two of his guards. Sokka, the idiot, let out a battle cry and charged at the prince with his club at the ready. When he reached Zuko, the prince merely kicked the club to his left and, without ever resting his leg on the ground, kicked Sokka over to his right, sending him into the snow where his head became trapped. The warrior desperately tried to free himself as Zuko continued on his way to the village, followed by six more men. Katara covered her mouth in shock upon witnessing her brother's quick defeat. Aika was expecting it.

Zuko approached, looking over them all. Aika may have imagined it but, she thought his gaze lingered on her a fraction longer than he did on others. She supposed she did stand out amongst the Tribe, with her auburn hair. When he does not seem to find what he is looking for, he stopped in front of Katara who clutched onto Kanna. Angrily, he asked, “Where are you hiding him?” When no one spoke, without warning, he viciously grabbed hold of Kanna, holding her in place by the hood of her parka and shaking her. “He'd be about this age, master of all elements?”

As Zuko became angrier and more demanding, he shot a stream of fire towards the villagers. Valiantly, Sokka again tried to defend them, in vain. Aika shook her head slightly. Boys. They never knew when to give up. Just as Zuko readied two fire daggers to kill Sokka with, Aang flew in. 

Well, actually he rode a penguin in. After riding it directly into Zuko, villagers cheering all the while, Aang came to a halt in front of Sokka, Katara and Aika. The penguin crawled out from under him, tossing the young boy off in the process. Aang fell on his rear, blinking stupidly. He then smiled at the penguin when the animal quacked at him before waddling away.   
Cheerfully, despite the present situation, Aang said, “Hey, Katara. Hey, Sokka. Hey, Aika.”

Aika raised her brow at the young airbender and Sokka just reluctantly responded, “Hi Aang. Thanks for coming.”

They all looked back at the Fire Nation soldiers, where the prince had just gotten back on his feet again. Upon his signal, his men spread out, surrounding Aang while Zuko assumed a fighting stance and Aang followed suit, his staff held firmly in front of him as he was surrounded by the soldiers. 

Suddenly, he swept the ground with his staff, showering the soldiers with snow. He subsequently slammed the ground, sending a rush of snow at Zuko. Melting the snow off himself, Zuko looked up angrily.

Teasingly, Aang asked, “Looking for me?”

Zuko looked at him, shocked. “You're the airbender? You're the Avatar?” By way of answer, Aang resumed his fighting stance.

Beside Aika, Katara looked stumped, “Aang?”

Sokka was completely bewildered. “No way!” Aika just rolled her eyes. 

Zuko practically growled, “I've spent years preparing for this encounter. Training, meditating. You're just a child!”

Aang, just looked at the prince calmly, tilting his head to one side with a somewhat confused expression. “Well, you're just a teenager.”

Zuko launched a series of fire blasts at Aang in anger at the remark, who defended himself by twirling his staff, dissipating the flames. As the fight continued, the villagers cowered when the flames streamed through the air over their heads. Aika doesn’t move, fascinated by the fight between elements. That, and she knew she could defend herself if she needed to. 

Aang stopped attacking when he saw the fright of the villagers. “If I go with you,” he asked, holding his staff in front of him as an offer of a ceasefire, “will you promise to leave everyone alone?” Zuko's men surrounded him once again, spears poised. After a brief second of hesitation, Zuko erects himself and nods curtly in agreement. Aang allowed himself to be apprehended by Zuko's men, who took his staff. Katara ran forward as they led Aang away. Aika ran after the girl and grabbed her, pulling her back when she made to follow them onto the ship. 

The young girl in her arms struggled, yelling, “No! Aang, don't do this!”

Aang was surprisingly calm when he responded, “Don't worry, Katara. It'll be okay.” He wheezed when he was shoved onto the walkway of the ship. “Take care of Appa for me until I get back.”

“Head a course for the Fire Nation. I'm going home,” Zuko announced. He turned and looked briefly over the village and once again, his eyes settled on Aika, seemingly judging her. She never broke his stare. She thought she saw his eyes soften a fraction as he looked at her before he turned and marched back up the walkway.

Aika looked up further to see Aang standing at the top of the walkway. She nodded once at him, to which he blinked, surprised before he smiled weakly as the bow closed. The ship reversed and was underway with its prize.

Katara stood on the edge of the ice, looking out into the distance, in the direction the navy ship left in. She knew she had to convince her brother and Gran-Gran that going after Aang was the right thing to do. When she heard Sokka approach, she said in a determined tone, “We have to go after that ship, Sokka. Aang saved our tribe, now we have to save him.”

Sokka goes to reply but is cut off. “Katara, I --”

“Why can't you realize that he's on our side?! If we don't help him, no one will. I know you don't like Aang, but we owe him and --”

This time, it was Sokka’s turn to cut her off, slightly annoyed, “Katara! Are you gonna talk all day, or are you comin' with me?” Sokka gestured to a small canoe floating in the water beside them. Katara immediately grinned and gasped in happiness.

“Sokka!” she cried and hugged him fiercely.

“Get in, we're going to save your boyfriend.”

Katara frowned, annoyed, “He's not my --”

Sokka just shrugged nonchalantly, “Whatever.”

Before they could get in, however, Kanna made herself known, “What do you two think you're doing?” The two siblings turned around and tried to act as innocently as possible; Sokka grinned broadly. The elder woman just smiled warmly, “You'll need these.” Kanna held up their sleeping bags. “You have a long journey ahead of you.” The siblings glanced at each other in surprise and Kanna walked over to face Katara. “It's been so long since I've had hope, but you brought it back to life, my little waterbender.” She hugged Katara, who then took the sleeping bags. 

Kanna turned to Sokka, “And you, my brave warrior, be nice to your sister.” Kanna hugged Sokka who slightly embarrassed pats her back. 

“Yeah, okay Gran.”

“Aang is the Avatar. He's the world's only chance. You both found him for a reason. Now your destinies are intertwined with his.” With one last smile, Kanna headed back to the village. 

The two siblings looked at each other uneasily. Katara then looked down, pointing at the canoe. “There's no way we're going to catch a warship with a canoe.”

“Hey, guys!” Someone called in the distance. Sokka and Katara both looked back to see Aika riding Aang’s sky bison, heading toward them. Appa made his presence known by growling in greeting. Katara began running towards the bison, calling, “Aika! Appa!”

Sokka followed, looking annoyed once again.


	4. Escape and Confessions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.

As soon as Sokka was situated in Appa’s saddle, Aika spoke, “Come on, Appa, let’s go rescue Aang. Yip-yip!” The command prompted the bison, who grunted and beat the ice with his tail. After what appeared to be a brief running start, he took flight and soared through the air, rising higher and higher. 

Ecstatically looking over the rim of the saddle, Sokka cried, “He's flying! He's flying! Katara, Aika, he's -” The two girls smirked at him. Seeing this, Sokka tried to play it cool, sheepishly said, “I mean, big deal. He's flying.” Aika and Katara both look at each other, rolling their eyes. 

It took a while before they caught up with the ship. As they come over a cliff, they hear a cheerful yell, “Appa!”

The three atop the bison could only watch as Aang turned around to face Zuko and just barely managed to deflect a firebending attack by spinning his glider around like a baton. However, he propelled himself by accident into the air and landed on the ledge of the deck. He leaned precariously over the side, unsteadily balancing himself, but he managed to regain his balance, much to their relief. But it was short-lived because Zuko fired another blast at him. Aang twirled his glider again to deflect the attack. A few more blasts were fired his way before he lost his grip on his glider and it fell several feet away. 

Katara clutched Aika’s hand in worry as they watched the fight below. Aang ducked, spun and leapt out of the way of blasts and landed on the very ledge again, struggling to keep his balance. Zuko hurled more fire blasts his way. They could see how Aang held his hands up in defence, but the last blast seemingly knocked him back and he fell backwards off the ship into the water where he slowly sank. 

Aika thought her hand would break as Katara clenched it even tighter, “Aang! No!”

For a few seconds, there was silence. Until Aang erupted from the surface, riding a humongous spinning water vortex, that is. It was entrancing for the witch, who had not seen such an amazing feat of elemental magic - or bending in this world. The Avatar's eyes and tattoos were glowing, as he brought his hands around behind his head. The water swirled around him, forming a protective circle, before spreading outward, and knocked Zuko and several soldiers off their feet and over the side of the ship. 

Shocked, Katara asked, “Did you see what he just did?”

Sokka was clearly impressed. “Now _that_ was some waterbending!”

Aika nodded in agreement. Below them on the deck, Aang collapsed onto the ground from exhaustion, his eyes and tattoos ceasing to glow. Appa growled and landed on the deck. Katara and 

Sokka tried to slide down, but, making a grave decision, Aika stopped them, going in their place. “Stay,” she commanded firmly. They complied.

Taking out her wand, she ran to the airbender, yelling, “ _Accio Aang’s glider._ ”

Catching the glider in her other hand, she stowed her wand back in her sleeve before carefully but quickly scooping up the tired boy. He was practically feather light as she carried him back to the bison. She had just managed to get him and the glider up with the help of Katara and Sokka, when behind her, Zuko yelled, “No!”  
She ducked a fire blast and took out her wand once again, turning to face Zuko. “Appa, yip-yip,” she called calmly. The bison obeyed and rose up, out of the way of any fire blasts, but he didn’t fly away.

“Who are you?” Zuko asked. 

Aika shrugged. “Honestly, I’m trying to figure that out myself.”

Having had enough small talk, Zuko attacked, sending blast after blast of fire towards her. She will forever deny it, but she giggled in glee. This was the most fun she had had in ages, and she dodged and parried his fire. She even cast several _incendios_ right back at him, at which he was understandably surprised. When the other soldiers joined in, she laughed, “Now it’s getting interesting!” 

One by one, each soldier was incapacitated, “ _Stupefy! Glacias! Impedimenta! Locomortor Mortis! Incendio! Aguamenti! Relashio!_ ” She didn’t need to say the spells, but she was having fun. She hadn’t done this type of magic in so long. Quickly, Zuko was the only one left again. She spared a quick glance up to Appa, and the three younger teens, whose jaws had fallen so far they would have hit the deck of the ship. 

She turned back to Zuko, who stared at her in utter shock. She grinned, “So I hate to love you and leave you, but…” She threw her wand up in the air, mentally casting her spell, shooting upwards towards Appa and landing in his saddle. “We should go!” She called out to Aang. Snapping out of it, the airbender grabbed the reins and directed the bison away. 

In anger, Zuko and someone else, Iroh? synchronized a firebending move and fired a powerful blast at the bison. Sokka and Katara stared at the incoming attack in horror while Aang leaped onto the saddle. But before he could do anything, Aika has already redirected the fireball into the nearby icy cliffside. The impact caused an avalanche of snow and ice onto the ship. The front of the ship was buried in a mass of snow and ice while Appa climbed higher and higher. The four teens laughed, and Aika and Aang even waved at them as Appa disappeared around the cliff.

It takes longer than Aika first thought before Sokka demands, “What was that?!”

She looked around at the faces of the three young teens, their expressions ranging from shock to trepidation, to fascination. Katara was the only one who looked slightly fearful.

Aika laughed, “I’ll tell you when we settle for camp. I promise it will be worth it.” Sokka grumbles and sulks, but nods once.

Aang doesn’t do the same, “You’re an energy-bender!”

She blinked in surprise, “Pardon?”

The small Avatar grinned so widely, Aika thought his face would split. “An energy-bender! The ancient scrolls in the archives mention a monk who once encountered a being who could shoot beams of energy and colour from a stick and each colour did something different.”

A monk had encountered one of her kind before? Really? How? Someone had dimension travelled before? She had never thought someone could have possibly done it before, let alone travelled to this very dimension. That was pretty awesome. “Cool!” she cheered. “It’s nice that it has a name here too!”

They flew north in silence until they spotted a small island to make camp on for the night, just as the sun was setting. Aika slid off first, Aang jumped down excitedly and Sokka did the same more carefully. Aika reached up, offering her hand to Katara to help her down, but the younger girl ignored it, sliding down by herself. A tiny pang of hurt hit Aika in the chest, but she shrugged it off.

She turned to the boys, “Okay, who wants to see something awesome?”

Aang raised his hand, “Oooh ooh! I do! I do!”

Sokka nodded excitedly. Pulling her wand from her sleeve and her tiny go bag from her pocket, she said, “ _Engorgio,_ ” making the bag normal-sized once again. Their jaws dropped and even Katara was stunned. Winking at them, Aika reached into her bag, her whole arm descending into the bag, which should have been physically impossible. And just when things couldn’t get any more shocking for the three, she pulled out an item which should have never fit!

“Wha… how? Huh?” Sokka stuttered. 

“Now for the awesome part!” She tapped her wand to the item and, by itself, it unravelled and made itself into a small tent. “Ta-da!”

“You’re kidding right?” Katara asked rudely, clearly unimpressed with the final result. “Aang could barely fit in there let alone all three of us.”

“Katara! But, it did it by itself! Or are you a crazy airbender who wants to fool us?” Sokka exclaimed in glee. 

She laughed, “No, Sokka, not a crazy airbender.” She gestured to them to go inside. “After you.”

Aang sprinted inside first. A few seconds passed before his head stuck out again between the tarps. “You have to see this!”

Sokka whooped and followed. Katara seemed hesitant and Aika just smiled at her kindly, “Come in when you are ready. I won’t start without you.” With that Aika ducked inside the tent, only to slam into Aang and Sokka. “Ow! Could you guys move a bit further in, please?” When they didn’t reply, she just shoved them a bit so she could move in.

She couldn’t help laughing again at their twin expressions of wonder and joy. They looked like little kids staring at Santa who had just told them they can have every toy they had ever dreamed of. She knew her father’s tent was one of the best of its time. Six bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room with a fireplace, dining table and small laundry space. Casually flicking her wand, she lit the fire in the fireplace and the torches hanging everywhere and cast a strong warming charm.

She clapped, snapping the two of them out of it. She saw Katara creep in silently behind them. “Okay, I have six bedrooms in here, just up those small steps and off that hall. When you select your room, just place your hand on the door and say your name. Once you claim it, your name will appear on the door, and others can only go in if you invite them in or in cases of emergency. Now, please respect this place. It was my father’s. You have access to every area except for the claimed rooms. Behind the dining room is a small library, the books are in alphabetical order. I don’t know if you will be able to read them.

“If you break anything, come to me immediately and ask me to fix it. I can repair it, so I won’t be mad or anything, just own up to it. And please, for the love of all that is sacred in this world, wash daily. I don’t care if you spend two minutes, or two hours, just wash. I will not let you stink in this tent. If I have to hold your head underwater, I will. Got it?” She looked at the two boys, who nodded in slight fear. “Good. Now follow me.” She showed them all how to use the bath, the taps and the toilet before taking them back out into the hall.

She nodded towards the bedrooms. “Go on then. I’ll start dinner.”

The two boys took off like rockets, Katara following sedately, in awe at her surroundings. Aika could already hear the two boys fighting over the rooms, before she called out, “They are all the same, except for mine! And I’ve already claimed it.”

With that, she started dinner, quickly grabbing everything she would need for beef stew and vegetable dumplings because she remembered that Aang was vegetarian. She figured she would have enough leftovers for lunch, which she could put back in the cooling cupboard under stasis. She had enough food in the tent cupboards to last six months for four people or two years for one person, and more in her bag. 

She was halfway done with the food when Katara emerged from the bedrooms, having taken off her outer layer and now in a blue and white woollen dress, making her way to the kitchen, still taking this place in. “Can I help?” she asked. 

Aika shook her head. “It’s okay, Katara. Your company is more than enough.”

It was silent for a few minutes before Katara blurted, “I’m sorry!”

Aika looked up startled, “What are you sorry for?” She flicked her wand again and the knives, ingredients and the spoon in the pot started flying around, chopping, cutting and mixing, while Aika focused her attention on the young girl. Katara gaped again, watching everyone fly around, rubbing her eyes and looking at it again as if to check it was all real. The older one took slight pity and gently guided the waterbender to the sofa, where Katara promptly sank into the cushion. 

“Uh… It’s soft,” she stated obviously. 

“Yes, it is. You were saying before?”

“Oh right um… I’m sorry I was rude to you outside. It’s just, well…”

“You were scared of me.”

Bright blue eyes widened. “How…?”

“Katara, when you live in a world like mine, elemental benders are not so crazy. When you live in a world like yours, what I do… what Aang said is energy-bending, is a little more out there. You didn’t understand, so you were scared. That’s natural actually. But remember, you always fear what you do not understand, and sometimes, fear can warp into hatred. So be careful you never let your fear of something affect you like that.”

Katara nodded determinedly, “I won’t. Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome.” By this stage, the smell of food had dragged the two boys from their respective rooms. “Hey boys, dinner isn’t ready yet, and won’t be for another twenty minutes. Did you want me to start my story now?”

Faster than she thought possible, the two were seated on the ground in front of her. “Yes!” cried Aang. 

Before she could start, “Sokka, sit on the other one of these! It’s soft!”

Sokka did as he was told, more out of curiosity than anything else, and sank into the sofa cushion the same way his sister had. “This is amazing!” The young airbender floated up to do the same and his eyes widened, but he didn’t say anything.

Once Sokka was suitably over his sofa obsession, he looked expectantly at Aika, and the other two did the same. Looking at all three, she had never felt older. Sokka was not much younger than herself, but she felt years older and she resolved she would protect these three children from the pain of war, with her own life if necessary. She felt a kinship unlike any other. They were her younger siblings, no matter what blood said.

She decided then and there that she would tell them about her past, but she would never reveal that she knew their future. Nothing good would come from that. She began, “Remember, what I am about to tell you does not change who I am. I am still Aika, the girl who lived with you for three months at the Water Tribe, okay?” At the siblings' nods, she continued, “My full name is Aikaterina Isabella Grimm and I come from a different world…”


	5. Temples and Warriors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.

Aika woke to a beautiful sunrise peeking just above some nearby cliffs. The beams of the morning sun reflected on the water stream, bathing everything in yellow light. Moving out of the tent, she could see Appa chewing on some grass for breakfast. Aang and Katara are already atop Appa, keen to get underway. Aang sat on the bison's head and checked the knots that tie the reins to Appa's horns. Katara sat in the saddle, fiddling with their luggage. Sokka was nowhere in sight.

The airbender chirped excitedly, “Wait 'till you see it, Katara, Aika! The Air Temple is one of the most beautiful places in the world!”

The two girls looked at each other. “Aang, I know you're excited,” she turned around to face him. “But it's been a hundred years since you've been home.”

Aang smiled broadly, “That’s why I’m so excited! Where’s Sokka?”

“I’m here, I’m here!” Sokka called from the tent. “I’m just trying to figure out how we dismantle the tent.”

Aika looked at him incredulously before she pulled out her wand. With a few quick flicks, everything was put away and looked as if the group had never been there at all.

The ride to the Air Temple was filled with questions from all three, some small displays of magic (energy-bending as Aang insisted). After a small display of cleaning magic on Sokka’s sleeping bag, Katara shuffled closer to the older girl and smiled widely, “For once, I am looking forward to a laundry day.” Aika laughed. 

The temple was a beautiful ruin. As they walked through, we could see Aang become more and more despondent and depressed. “I can’t believe how much things have changed,” he muttered sadly, looking out over the field where he had once played with his friends. 

Aika stepped forward, “So this airball game you mentioned? How do you play?”

The airbender gave her a smile that lit up his whole face and she felt pangs of deep sympathy for the small boy. The boy explained as he pulled her along, the other two following behind. Aika used her ascension spell to get her to the top of the court, guarding a goal post. Aang air-bended his way up to guard his side. Aang suspended a hollow ball in the air with airbending. He let the ball roll over his shoulders, tossed it from side to side and lazily tossed it up in the air. He looked and smiled innocently at Aika with his hands behind his back.

She wasn’t an easy target like he thought she would be. In fact, she lifted her wand and called, “ _Ventus._ ” To his surprise, the ball switched direction and headed back for him. They played for a while when finally Aang scored a goal. Then in the next round, Aika scored. Aang was having so much fun! 

They had been playing for so long now, that Aang called, “Next round is the decider!”

She nodded. And then, using every trick, every technique and every cheat they could, Aang finally scored, finishing the game. He jumped up and flipped in the air excitedly, so happy that he won. Aika smiled softly to herself. She was the true winner, for being able to make a young boy so happy again.

That was until they could no longer keep him from seeing the skeletons.

Aika had raised a shield to protect the two siblings and herself from the wind and flying debris. But then Katara said, “I’m going to try and calm him down!” and stepped out from behind the shield before either older teen could stop her. “Aang! I know you're upset and I know how hard it is to lose the people you love. I went through the same thing when I lost my mom.” He didn’t seem to hear her, too lost in his grief and anger. She looked back at Sokka, pain evident in her eyes as well, before she looked back at the glowing boy. “Monk Gyatso and the other airbenders may be gone, but you still have a family. Sokka, Aika and I! We're your family now!”

Aika and Sokka glanced at each other, surprised that she had lumped the older girl into their little odd family. Eventually, she calmed him down and the pending tornado ceased. Aika dropped the shield and both she and Sokka made their way over to the two others, just in time to hear Aang painfully acknowledge, “I really am the last airbender.”

Aika couldn’t help it. She grabbed the small boy into a hug. He gripped onto her tightly, and she could feel the shaking and he quietly sobbed into her dress. She had never had a younger sibling, but she had a few smaller Ravenclaws come to her over the years, homesick and desperately needing comfort.

“We promise we won’t let anything happen to you, Aang,” Sokka claimed.

They had picked up one more for their journey, a cute little flying lemur named Momo. Sokka was in charge of flying Appa for once, as they noticed Aang needed close contact and comfort. While Katara and Sokka could and would readily provide it, they realised that he identified more with Aika than anyone else. In fact, the two siblings already thought of the older girl as their older sister, despite not being born from the Water Tribe. While Katara had had a harder time understanding why she had kept her power a secret, now that she knew Aika’s story and how she had already been through a war, she was more accepting. She would take a while to get back to completely normal, but Katara knew it would only be a few days. 

Aika wrapped her arms around the airbender again, still reeling over how small he was. So small, and yet he had so much power. Aang didn’t protest as she pulled him closer, so she started humming lowly, so only he could hear and created some small useless sparks of magic from her fingers. 

With her magic stronger in this realm, she had found she could do some basic wandless magic that had been really difficult for her before. Directing sparks of colour and light were really simple because there was no spell and the energy didn’t have to do anything other than look pretty. She felt Aang relax against her and glanced down to see him entranced by her little light show and her humming, slowly falling asleep. “Thanks, Aika,” he whispered.

“Anytime, kid,” she muttered back, pressing a small kiss to his temple. So many people forgot that he was still a child. She kept up her little display and glanced up to see Katara smiling at her. She smiled back. When the kid had fallen asleep, she laid him down to rest properly, casting a small warming charm on him because of the wind, and moved to sit with Katara. They didn’t need to speak, they just sat together in comfortable silence.

Giant koi fish were one thing, but giant sea serpents were another. Aika did not like the thought of becoming lunch to a sea monster, not one bit. As soon as she saw it, she pulled out her wand and summoned Aang back to shore faster than he could have flown. Aang grunted when he felt… something… being hooked around him, and then he was flying over the water back to shore. 

Aika released the charm on the boy just before he reached the shore, his momentum carried him the rest of the way. She caught him before they crashed, but they were still knocked down to the ground. “What did you do that for?” he demanded. Aika just pointed back out towards the water, where the giant black sea serpent was thrashing around. “Oh,” he muttered in slight shock. 

“Yeah, oh,” Aika retorted, getting up and dusting sand off herself. “Look, I’m all for fun, you won’t see me stopping you, except in dangerous situations, okay? I’m not your mother, or the fun police, or anything, but just be a bit more spatially aware.”

Aang nodded, his eyes downcast at the small lecture, and proceeded to get dressed again. Katara and Sokka came running over, “What was that thing?!”

Before anyone could answer, a small contingent of warriors jumped down from the trees and encircled the group. Aika shouted, “ _Protego Maxima!_ ” and a dome shield formed around the four travellers, just as the warriors started running at them. Several collided with the shield, but it held steady, and the rest of the warriors skid to a stop just before they hit as well.

The warriors regrouped, in battle stance, but most of them gaped at the barely visible dome, and the four realised that the warriors were female. They wore green kimonos and red, black and white face paint. Aika, of course, knew who they were, but had to pretend, “Who are you? What are you doing trying to ambush us?”

The leader, obvious from how she was standing a bit in front of the rest of them, instead demanded, “What are you doing on our island?”

Aang rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, “That’s my fault. I wanted to ride on the elephant koi.”

One of them pointed at them and angrily asked, “How do we know you're not Fire Nation spies? Kyoshi stayed out of the war so far. And we intend to keep it that way!”

Aang brightened, “This island is named for Kyoshi? I know Kyoshi!”

“How could you possibly know her? She’s been dead for centuries!” the leader scoffed.

“He’s the Avatar,” Katara stated bluntly.

Immediately, some of the female warriors dropped their defensive stance and their fans/weapons and looked at Aang curiously. But others weren’t so accepting, “Prove it!” the angry one yelled. “They say the last Avatar was an airbender, but they have been dead for a hundred years now.”

Aika, who was not about to drop her shield, nudged Aang slightly, muttering, “Do some airbending.”

Aang performed his little trick, letting marbles spin around really fast between his hands while he grinned like a fool. He looked at the crowd and hoped that it had impressed them. He had tried this trick on Katara earlier, but she had been too distracted to notice.

After being treated to a small welcoming parade, they were taken to have some food, where Aika and Sokka were currently engaged in a small argument. Or Sokka was mostly pouting, Aika was trying to console him without laughing, and Katara was openly giggling. Aang was looking out the window at the fan girls again.

“I’m just saying, you didn’t have to protect me! I could have taken those girls!”

Aika, having said the same thing four times now, sighed and ran a hand through her auburn hair. This was the first time she had left it out for longer than it took to wash. “I’m sure you could have Sokka, but it doesn’t mean I don’t protect you. Tell you what, why don’t you go find out where those girls train and see if you can challenge them.” Katara giggled again and Aika winked at her. Sokka nodded proudly, his ego driving him and turned to march out and find the girl warriors.

“Did you want me to braid your hair, Aika?” Katara asked once he was gone.

The older girl hummed, “Maybe later, if that’s okay. I haven’t let it free for almost four months.” She proceeded to cast some more cleaning charms on her hair and some of the extensive beauty charms she and her mother had learned while in France for a duelling tournament. They helped keep any frizz, knots or damage out of your hair and made it silky to the touch. She waved Katara over and proceeded to do the same for the younger girl, who grinned ecstatically at her. Aika saw Aang’s jaw drop at the sight and winked at him. He blushed and turned around again, leaving the building.

“Come on, let’s go exploring. I think I want some new clothes,” Aika said, pulling the younger girl up. 

“But we have no money.”

“Just let me worry about that.”

While the two girls went on a shopping trip, and Sokka was being beaten up and subsequently had to dress as a girl, Aang was being ambushed by Avatar fans. It was equal parts nice and annoying for him, considering Katara was ignoring him. He wanted to impress her, was that so bad? So he agreed to all the requests from the fans. So when they asked him to perform a daring feat, he had to go tell Katara. 

He found her with Aika in a little shop, where they had changed into green Earth Kingdom dresses and had some pretty pendants and things on. Confidently, he announced, “Katara, remember how Unagi almost got me yesterday?” Aika turned from the jewellery display to face the young Avatar, but Katara was completely engrossed.

“Yeah?” the waterbender asked absently, trying to decide between two bracelets.

“Well, I'm gonna go ride it now. It's gonna be real dangerous,” he bragged, his smile wide.

“Oh really, Aang?” Aika said in a warning tone and raised an eyebrow. It was becoming her signature ‘don’t screw with me’ look. “I know I said I’m not your mother, but I also said not to be stupid. If I have to tether you to me so you don’t do anything dumb, then I will.”

Aang paled slightly, clearly taking the threat seriously. He quickly reneged on the idea and spun to his fans, “Change of plans, I’m not going to ride the Unagi.”

The girls groaned and whined like five-year-olds, before an angry one demanded, “You’re the Avatar. Who is she to tell you what to do?”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Aika stepped in front of Aang and looked down her nose at the little girls. She wasn't aware, but her red hair was glowing like fire in the sunlight and haloed her face, making her look scary to the fans, who feared the Fire Nation. “I’m his older sister. I don’t tell him what to do, but I do keep him from being taunted and egged into dangerous situations. Don’t you dare try and get someone to do something that you are not prepared to do yourself. If you want someone to ride the Unagi, start volunteering. Any takers?” The girls looked up at her in fear. “I didn’t think so. Now run along to your parents, I’m sure you have chores to be doing.”

They scattered.

Aang was… pleased. Since becoming the Avatar, no one had really protected him, instead had looked to him to do the protecting. And when she had said she was his sister, it had warmed his heart. He had never had an older sibling. The older monks didn’t count. 

Handing the girl a gold coin, the energy-bender said, “Katara, get whatever you like. I’m just going to speak to Aang for a bit okay?” She didn’t wait for a response and gently grabbed Aang's arm and pulled him in a more secluded alleyway. “ _Muffliato,_ ” she cast quietly, seeing that other Kyoshi islanders were attempting to eavesdrop. She glared at them and they quickly “Now, Aang, look. I’m not going to apologise for intervening in whatever you had going on with the fangirls, but it’s important for you to - Oof!”

Aang had knocked the breath out of her, grabbing her in a tackle hug. “I’ve never had an older sister,” he said quietly.

She smiled and wrapped her arms around him. “I mean it. And being an older sister doesn't just mean I’ll protect you. You can come to me for anything. Your worries, troubles, fears, hopes, dreams. You can share them with me, Aang.” She released him from his hug and squatted down in front of him, so they were more or less eye to eye. “No judgement. I promise, you can tell me anything. So many people are going to tell you that as the Avatar, you have to kill the Fire Lord, save them and end the war. And while that may be true, you do not have to do it alone. Okay?”

Aang’s eyes were bright with tears as he nodded and hugged her again. “Okay.”

Suddenly, the Kyoshi villages around them started exclaiming in fear, running for their homes and shelters, “Come out, Avatar!” they heard. “You can't hide from me forever! Find him!”

Aang started to run towards the main street of the town, but Aika pulled him back just as he rounded the side of the building. She pulled him behind her and slowly peeked around the corner. Was that… Kyoshi warriors were battling Fire Nation soldiers, who were on rhinos? What the hell? One of the warriors was battling the fire prince and losing. She quickly relayed the information to Aang, who nodded solemnly, just as they heard, “Nice try, Avatar! But these little girls can't save you!”

“Okay, I’ll go help the Kyoshi Warriors. You get to Zuko. Try to lead him away from the village and back to the beach, so he doesn’t burn the village down.” They split and did as planned. 

The airbender taunted Zuko, who quickly gave chase, throwing fireballs. Aika on the other hand, made quick work of two of the soldiers while making sure that the buildings were doused with water before they could really catch alight. The Kyoshi warriors were battling the rest. Seeing Katara, she waved her over, and the younger girl said, “Let's get out of here. Zuko will leave Kyoshi to follow us. I know it feels wrong to run, but I think it's the only way.”

“I agree. Come on. Aang is down at the beach.” They ran towards the shore, intercepting and dragging Sokka along the way. Aika doused any fire she saw, Katara doing the same with the excess water Aika produced. They immediately ran towards Appa when they hit the sand, signalling Aang that they were going. Snapping open his glider, Aang made to follow. 

Some of the Kyoshi Warriors had followed them, providing enough cover for them to leave. One of the warriors kissed Sokka on the cheek before he climbed into the saddle. As soon as Aang landed on Appa’s head, he yelled, “Appa, yip-yip!”

As they rose, they looked back down at the town, Sokka and Aang were surprised at how little it had sustained. Sure there were a few fires here and there, but nothing uncontrollable. Nonetheless, Aang’s expression hardened and he jumped off the bison, into the water. Katara, Aika and even Momo peeked over the rim of the saddle. They saw water bubbles rippling on the surface and suddenly the Unagi shot out of the water with Aang on top of his head, holding his whiskers. After swaying about a few times, the Avatar steeled himself atop Unagi's head and pulled on the creature's barbels. Unagi opened its mouth wide and began gushing water which rained over the town, putting out the last of the fires. 

Below them, a drenched and angry Zuko and his surprised looking men mounted onto the rhinos. Zuko’s glare shifted from the boy he hunted during his waking hours, to the girl who haunted his every dream. Her long hair, no longer tied up, had turned to fire in the sunlight, blowing gently in the breeze so high up. He couldn’t see much of her, being blocked by the large flying monster, but he could see that she was now wearing a green dress, and it contrasted amazingly with her hair. He shook his head to get rid of such distracting thoughts. No, he had to capture the Avatar. He had a mission, he had to complete it.

The Unagi finally ceased it’s water display and launched Aang into the air, who was subsequently caught by Appa and they flew away. Seeing the displeased look on Aika’s face, Aang sighed, “I know, I know. That was stupid and dangerous.”

Katara lightly slapped Aika on the arm to get her the ease up and instead answered the airbender, “Yes, it was.” Katara suddenly hugged him. Aang smiled and inhaled deeply before sighing and closing his eyes, happily. He felt someone grab his hand and squeeze it once, and he knew his older sister wasn’t mad at him.


	6. Small Adventures and Crescent Island

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.

To say that the last few weeks had been exciting would be an understatement.

At the Earth Kingdom city of Omashu, they had run into a crazy King, who had trapped Aika, Katara and Sokka in creeping crystals. Aika, of course could have gotten out of them, but she felt that this particular lesson, Aang needed to learn. She knew that this crazy King was Aang's old friend Bumi anyway, so not much harm would have come to them. 

Although, he did have an odd fascination with Momo.

Then, Katara had convinced Aang and Sokka to help free a small Earth Kingdom Village from imprisonment and subjugation by the Fire Nation army stationed there. Katara had felt so strongly about getting the people back onto their feet that Aika didn’t protest. For the most part, she let them be; she knew better than to try to convince teenagers with sound logic. Besides, she didn’t like to see the earth-benders imprisoned either. Aika had already learned that not everyone could be saved in a war, but they hadn’t yet. Learning that lesson meant losing your innocence and rosy outlook. She couldn’t ruin it. 

Of course, she had helped Sokka and Aang rescue Katara and the earthbenders from the ships, but that was the extent of her involvement in that plan. Later, as they had been flying away on Appa, Sokka had said, “I thought you would have tried to stop us rescuing them. Why didn’t you?”

Aika had shrugged, “There are some lessons you three need to learn on your own, Sokka. I’ve lived through a war. I already know these lessons. I’ll not stop you from doing what you think is right. You thought this was right. And it was. I’m just here to help you clean up your messes, as usual,” she added jokingly, flicking her wand and hitting them with a quick _scourgify_. The three younger teens laughed.

Aang had then demanded that they had to get somewhere before the winter solstice the next night, so he could convene with the last reincarnation of himself, Roku. “There's a temple on a crescent-shaped island and if I go there on the solstice, I'll be able to speak with him.”

“But the solstice is tomorrow!” Katara exclaimed.

Aang looked pensive, “Yeah, and there's one more problem. The island is in the Fire Nation.”

The two blood siblings had looked at each other fearfully, but they nevertheless hopped back onto Appa. Sokka caught a glimpse of Aika’s indifference at the fact they were flying into enemy territory. He guessed, she technically didn’t have anything to fear. She could take out a whole army without breaking a sweat. He would never have thought to guess it was because she knew what would happen.

Since they had begun the journey, Aika hadn’t done much to change the path they were on and she had already decided she wasn’t going to act on her knowledge too much at all, just gently nudge them off and onto their path. Like that business with Jeong Jeong. Not much change, except maybe Aang wouldn’t go off half-cocked and hurt Katara with fire. 

Aika had seen Zuko’s ship following them for some time but hadn’t bothered to mention anything to the others. Changing their course to evade Zuko would be pointless if they wanted to get to Crescent Island before sundown. Things got a bit hairy though when they reached the Fire Nation blockade. After a few moments of debate upon the course of action, Sokka yelled, “Let’s run this blockade!”

“Appa, yip-yip!” Appa roared readily, sailing forward even quicker.

The sky became littered with flaming fireballs fired from the blockade. The three younger teens started screaming and Aang got ready to pull on Appa’s reins when Aika stood up in the saddle and calmly batted away every fireball with a casual flick of her wand. The men in Zhao’s fleet all watch in horror as some of them are reflected back at them. Iroh and Zuko can only watch in awe as the fireballs switch direction in mid-air, no longer aiming toward them, or toward the bison. Most landed on either side of them, but a few are actually sent back to the blockade.

Surprisingly, the blockade allowed the prince’s ship to pass. 

After flying a while longer, Aang shouts, “There it is!” Sokka and Katara sat up in the saddle, trying to get a good look. “The island where Roku's dragon took me.” Appa descended and promptly lay down at the base of a stone bridge leading up to the island's mountain. The four hopped down, looking up at the bridge. At the end of it, they could just make out an elegant, multi-story Fire Temple. Lava flowed beneath the bridge and the air was thick with steam. Sokka moved further away to begin stretching, while Aang and Katara checked on Appa. Aika glanced around wand at the ready. 

Aang rubbed against Appa's head. “You did it, buddy. Nice flying.” Appa bellowed in satisfaction, rolling to his side to wave his three legs into the air lazily, tongue lolling out.

Katara smiled sweetly and approached Appa, “Aww, you must be tired.”

Sokka’s the idiot, joyfully pronounced, “No! I'm good. Refreshed and ready to fight some firebenders!" And continued to work out and flex his body. 

Katara just expressed dumbfounded interest, wondering how she had such an idiot of a brother. “I was talking to Appa,” she responded dryly.

Sokka instantly stopped exercising. “Well ... I was talking to Momo,” he said stupidly, pointing to the lemur clinging to a dead tree's branch. 

Aika rolled her eyes, “Come on. We have to start walking. There aren’t any guards along the path, but we should be prepared to encounter someone at the temple.”

At the top, they ducked behind some stones, just in case there was someone guarding the front. “The Fire Nation must have abandoned the temple when Avatar Roku died,” Katara murmured.

Aang said, “It's almost sundown. We better hurry!” The group leapt over the wall and charged for the front door. Once inside, they tip-toed through an enormous chamber with fire-decor columns. 

“Wait. I think I heard something,” Sokka whispered.

Turning around, they saw five men standing in the hallway dressed in red with tall hats. The one in front announced, “We are the Fire Sages. Guardians of the temple of the Avatar.”

“Great! I am the Avatar!”

“We know.” They inhaled briskly before punching a blast of fire in their direction.

Aika steps in front of the three, “I’ll hold them off, run!”

Aang, Sokka and Katara nodded once before heading down the hall. Dodging and blocking the Sages, she pulled her sleeve down to hide her wand and conjured some water, mimicking some basic waterbending techniques so as not to give away her skills. Ducking behind a pillar when they weren’t looking, she disillusions herself so they would think she had run after the Avatar. It worked. “If the Avatar contacts Roku, there's no telling how powerful the boy will become! Split up and find him,” the leader commanded.

And so she was left alone in the entrance hall. Deactivating the disillusion, she leaned against one of the pillars admiring the artwork on the ceiling of the temple. It wasn’t too much later when Zuko ran inside and promptly halted when he saw her. She didn’t look towards him, just kept her gaze on the ceiling. 

He took a brief moment to study her again. Bathed in the firelight, green dress and long dark red hair; she was stunning. But she was in his way. He took a fighting stance. “I don’t want to fight you,” he said. “I just want the Avatar.”

Her ice-blue eyes pierced through him, looking into his very soul. For a second, he felt like she could see him. All of him. All his pain, his suffering, his anguish. It was relief and torment, for someone to see him laid out like that. She smiled sadly and spoke softly, her words tinkering through the hall, “I don’t want to fight you either, Zuko.” She closed her eyes again, looking at the ceiling, “It’s beautiful.” 

He didn’t take his eyes off her, and blurted, “Yes.”

Footsteps approached from outside, loud and daunting. She sighed. “Just know that you won’t get Aang today, but I’ll hold off Zhao for as long as I can.” With that, she moved out of his way and flicked that stick she had carried when she fought off his men on his ship, water sprouted from it and instantly froze in the entrance, blocking all entry.

The prince didn’t wait any longer.

Aika did all that she could to slow down the general without revealing herself. She set a number of ice structures behind more ice structures that were not quick to melt, to delay him and his firebenders. Eventually, though, he got through them all and made his way to the top of the temple. Sneaking out behind them, she made her way quickly back down to Appa (finding Momo there too to her surprise), and just in time, because Avatar Roku released a huge wave of fire, beginning the destruction of the temple. 

Appa circled the top of the temple and Aika spotted the three teens looking around desperately for an escape. Aika whistled loudly to catch their attention, and they quickly turned to see Aika, Appa and Momo swiftly closing in. They ran out of the hole in the side of the temple, leaping into Appa's saddle, Aika guiding the bison away once they were safely on board.

“You three okay?” she asked when they were safely out of the path of any Fire Nation ships.

“We’re okay,” Sokka spoke on their behalf. “You?”

She nodded. “I’m fine.” She looked at Aang. “Was that you?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, “The spirit of Avatar Roku kind of took me over. Were you the one who fought and delayed Zuko and Zhao? Zuko came a bit too late and Zhao only managed to get there just as Avatar Roku released the fire wave.”

She hummed. “Zuko, not so much. But Zhao, yes.”

Sokka eyeballed her suspiciously, “What do you mean by ‘not so much’?”

She grinned suggestively and wiggled her eyebrows, “Sokka, darling, I don’t need to fight a man to distract and delay him.”

Sokka’s jaw dropped and his eyes bugged out in absolute horror. “Bu... But.. Bu.. Wha… No. No no no. I forbid it!” Aika let out a very witchy cackle at his horror. Katara and Aang just stare uncomprehendingly at the two. “I forbid it! No sister of mine will flirt with anyone from the Fire Nation! No!” Katara and Aang gaped at Aika, who didn’t look ashamed, defensive or sheepish in the least. In fact, she looked rather proud. 

“Sokka, darling, a woman uses what she’s got. And I’ve got a whole bucket load of feminine charm. Did you know that I could even brew a love potion?” Sokka paled and shook his head. Discreetly, Aika winked at the other two, so they would know she was joking. “Yep! I think I have the ingredients and the book, but I'll have to check my bag. I could slip it into their drinks, they’ll be none the wiser, I could seduce a whole fleet into thinking they are in love with me.” Sokka turned green and looked like he was going to be sick.

Aang and Katara couldn’t take it anymore, they burst into laughter. They laughed so hard tears streamed down their faces. Sokka then realised he was the butt of a joke and deadpanned, “Oh har har, very funny.”

Aika smirked and shrugged, “Katara and Aang seem to think so.”

Later, when camp was set up and the two siblings were asleep in their rooms, Aang found he couldn’t sleep. He kept tossing and turning, thinking about what Roku had said. Nightmares kept him awake sometimes, and now to add visions of the future? He was never going to get any sleep!

Finally fed up with trying, Aang ventured back into the ‘living room’ - Aika had named it - and was surprised to see Aika curled up on the ‘sofa’ reading a book. Without looking up from her book, she asked softly, “Can’t sleep?” Aang shrugged, not that she saw it, and came to sit opposite her. Only then did she put her book down. “What’s on your mind?”

She didn’t push him, didn’t say anything more and after a few moments he blurted out, “Avatar Roku. He told me I have to master the elements by next summer. Sozin’s Comet is coming and will make the Fire Benders more powerful and the Fire Lord Ozai is going to use it to conquer the world!”

Aika was silent for a few more moments, but it seemed that Aang had finished for now. She nodded once. “Okay, how about you ask Katara to show you some basic waterbending techniques in the morning? I’m sure she’ll help you, so when we reach the North, you’ll know something.”

He grinned, “That’s a great idea!”

“I want to caution you though. Learning too much too fast can hurt you. Mastering your basics is essential. I speak from experience. But that’s not all is it?”

The boy looked down shamefully, “I have nightmares.”

She chuckled once sadly, “Don’t we all? It’s just as we grow older and experience more, the nightmares become more realistic.”

Again, she didn’t push him to reveal what the nightmares were about, but he found himself blurting out the story anyway. How he was told he was the Avatar and pushed away by all his friends. How he ran away from the Southern Air Temple and his mentor Gyatso, leaving only a note behind. How he became stuck in the storm in the South Pole and built the ice sphere to protect himself and Appa. How he felt guilty and ashamed that he wasn’t there to help defend his home. How he thought that everyone would still be alive if he had been there to protect them too.

Aang hadn’t even noticed that she had moved to sit next to him until he had finished. He hadn’t noticed he was crying either. But Aika never spoke, just let the airbender get it all out, share his burden with her, like she had told him to. She had heard Katara come out of her room near the beginning and had glanced at her. Katara made an expression like a rabbit caught in headlights, but the older girl hadn’t done anything. So Katara has sat on the steps that led to the bedrooms and listened, not making her presence known.

Aika looked up to the heavens and cursed inwardly at every spirit, every being, every long since dead man, who had thought it was a good idea to place the weight of the world squarely on the shoulders of a twelve-year-old. She cursed them to hell and back, damning them and probably herself honestly, with some of the cuss words she was using.

Gathering up the boy, she held him close to her side and he buried his face in her dress. “Aang, it’s not your fault. I promise you, it is not your fault. When the Fire Nation struck the Temples, it was only a few months after you were told who you were. You would have barely begun your waterbending training. You would have never stood a chance against Fire Lord Sozin.

“It’s okay to feel sad, it’s okay to grieve. But don’t let it consume you. Those feelings are corrosive and eat away at your very soul. It’s easier said than done, but no more guilt. The only guilty ones are those who destroyed your home. They are to blame. Not you. Not you, Aang.”

He sniffled. “You really think so?”

She gently wiped his tear-stained cheeks. “I know so. Because I’ve been through it too.” He frowned. “You remember the war I mentioned, and how my parents died in it?” He nodded. “Well, I was away at my school when it happened. My parents and I had been debating over whether I should go back. I was determined to go finish my education no matter what. My parents were going to move to another country to get away, during the school year and I would join them when I had finished. Before I started, we packed up the house of everything precious and moved it all to a place we could access it again in the next country. But they never got the chance. They were murdered a few days before they were due to leave. Every night, I thought to myself, what if I had stayed home, be damned with my schooling? What if I had been there to protect them? I could have been the difference between their living and dying.” She took a deep breath. “During the year, my parents' murderers came to school. They were hired to teach the students. And they tortured us. Over and over again,” her voice was barely a whisper now. “But I realised something. I would not have made a difference. No matter how skilled I was, no matter how powerful. I would have faced grown wizards, ones who had given themselves up to the evils of powerful dark magic. And I would have died alongside my parents if I had been there.”

Aang was staring at her, horror in his eyes. Suddenly brightening, she said, “And then I wouldn’t have been able to meet you. Or Katara. Or Sokka. Even Appa and Momo.” She took Aang’s hand and squeezed it comfortingly. “I’m not trying to scare you. Just make you realise, the guilt that you feel about the ‘what if’, it’s not worth the torment it brings. You would have been up against an enemy just too powerful to fight. This way, at least you have until next summer. We can’t change the past, Aang. But the future is bright and full of hope. That’s what your Gyatso would want you to focus on, right?”

He nodded sadly, “Yeah. He would have.” He hugged her again. “Thanks, Aika.”

“Anytime, this is what an older sister is for.” She pulled back and stared deep into his grey eyes, “Are you going to be able to sleep tonight?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know.”

She nodded once and pulled him up off the sofa, dragging him to her room. She allowed him entry and he blinked in surprise at all the weird items he saw. She disappeared into a small opening and came back out a few seconds later with a glass bottle and a cork on it.

“Is this wine?” Aang asked apprehensively. 

“No, it's called Sleeping Draught. It helps you sleep without nightmares.” Aang’s expression brightened only to fall again when she continued, “You can use it only three times a month or you risk your health and addiction. That is only one dose. Drink it all, and you will fall asleep almost instantly.” She walked him back to the room he had chosen. “I’ll make sure Katara and Sokka don’t wake you. You have to let the potion wear off on its own or you'll be cranky all day tomorrow.” 

He nodded. “Goodnight, Aika. Thanks, for everything.”

“Always.”


	7. The Scroll, The Fighters and the Chasm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.
> 
> UPDATE: I've aged Zuko up so he is 19, almost 20. He faced the Agni Kai against Ozai at 15 and was with Iroh for 4 years. The story just didn't feel right when he was too young. Also changed Aika's starting age to 17, since she would have had to be at least 17 to be in her final year at Hogwarts at the start of the story. Honestly, the change doesn't make much of a difference until later on in the story. 
> 
> Enjoy the new chapter!

The Avatar hadn’t woken until noon the next day, much to the disapproval of Sokka, but Aika had firmly told him, in no uncertain terms, that he would regret it if he bothered the young airbender. So it wasn’t until after lunch that Aang asked Katara to teach her some waterbending.

She quickly agreed, “We'll need to find a good source of water first.”

“Maybe we can find a puddle for you to splash in,” Sokka said sarcastically.

Aika had simply pointed beyond the tree line. Curiously, the airbender and waterbender went in that direction, and about one hundred metres away was a large waterfall and river. Sokka, who had followed, muttered, “Nice puddle.”

While Katara showed Aang a few waterbending tricks, Sokka was roped into cleaning Appa’s toes. Aika joined them by the water, conjuring a poolside daybed and stretching out with a good book. Sokka whined, “Aww! Why do I have to clean Appa’s toes?”

Aika smirked, “You agreed, your fault. I don’t know why you didn’t just ask me to cast a cleaning charm.”

Sokka grinned goofily, “Aika, can you please cast a cleaning charm for Appa and make me one of those beds as well?” 

Aika was just about to respond when a towering wave crashed down onto his head, sending him downstream and her into a fit of laughter. His disgruntled expression was just the icing on the cake. 

Happy with his progress, Aang exclaimed, “Looks like I got the hang of that move! What else you got?”

Angry at Aang's quick success, Katara grunted, “That's enough practising for today.”

With his head still sticking out of the water, Sokka shouted, “Yeah, I'll say! You just ‘practised’ our supplies down the river.” The rest of the group looked downstream, where Sokka pointed. A couple of bags were floating away.

Aang looked guilty, “Uh, sorry… I’m sure we can find somewhere to replace that stuff.”

Aika rolled her eyes, flicked her wand and the supplies were summoned back, narrowly missing Sokka’s head as they flew at a breakneck speed. He glared at Aika when he came back out of the water where he had ducked to avoid a bag. She smiled apologetically.

“The bags are still drenched though,” Katara muttered. “Specifically the food. You can’t make food can you, Aika?”

She shook her head. “Nope, it’s one of the laws of magic. You cannot create something of nutritional substance from nothing. I can summon it, but I would have to know where to get it from.”

Sokka groaned, “Great, looks like we have to go shopping.” He glanced at Aang, “My life was hard enough when you were just an airbender,” he muttered half-joking, half-not.

So off they ventured to the nearest port marketplace.

Now, Aika’s parents had been pretty well off. Her father’s family being purebloods and her mother being the only child from a well-to-do muggle family, which she had converted into galleons when she married her dad. So she had had a significant amount of gold, silver and bronze in her account when she had completely emptied it. She also had her father’s family research, and one of his grandfather’s had tried to figure out the best way to override the goblin magic on the coins so he could manipulate the image or the shape of the coin. He had figured out the way to do it, but he didn’t have enough power to do so. 

With the new increase in her power levels in this new realm, in her downtime, Aika had begun her own experimentation. It had taken her all three months of her time in the Water Tribe, but she had done it. It had taken her a while to figure out, considering it had ventured into alchemy territory, but she had managed to even pull the gold apart since galleons were actually big coins, and the pieces from this realm here were tiny in comparison. Goblins also tended to use pure gold, but she had mixed in some other metals to make it worth even less. Not that anyone in this world would know  
that, since their coins were mixed with crap as well.

Since the Water Tribe had little use for money, she hadn’t told anyone about it and the only time they had done anything other than food shopping on this trip so far was in Kyoshi.

King Bumi had been kind enough to give them some money and supplies in Omashu, but that was steadily running out. Aika had decided that she would save the food she had stashed for when they were in dire straits or for meals for special occasions. So when Sokka said, “We've got exactly three copper pieces left from the money that King Bumi gave us. Let's spend it wisely,” that is exactly what all the three younger teens believed.

“Uh, make that two copper pieces, Sokka. I couldn't say no to this whistle!” Aang pulled out a white whistle that looked sort of like a bison, took a huge breath and blew into it, but it barely made a sound.

Sokka, who had been expecting a loud sound, pulled his fingers back out of his ears and said, “It doesn’t even work!” 

Momo squawked at Aang and he stopped blowing into the whistle. “See? Even Momo thinks it’s a piece of junk!”

“No offence Aang, but I think either Aika or I should hold the money from now on,” Katara noted. Aang sadly handed the money over.

As they were walking, they saw a man who was moving his hands and shouting excitedly. “Earth Nation! Fire Nation! Water Nation! So long as bargains are your inclination, you're welcome here! Don't be shy, come on by!” When he spotted the group passing by, he ran up to them. “Oh! You there, I can see from your clothing that you're world-travelling types. Perhaps I can interest you in some exotic curios?”

"What are curios?" Aang inquired.

“Knick knacks and things,” Aika told the airbender.

“Oh, can we go have a look?”

The man, sensing a potential sale, put his hand on Aang shoulder and walked him up the ramp into the ship. “We definitely got 'very thing you could be lookin' for!”

Aika glared balefully at the man and reluctantly followed, motioning the other two to follow her. She remembered how this particular adventure was going to go and decided to throw her weight a bit. No need for pirates to try to kill them over a piece of parchment. 

The ship's cargo hold, where the pirates were selling their wares from, was stacked with shelves of all sorts of collectables, junk, and other things. The pirate captain, a cliche and a half with the parrot on his shoulder (Aika had an urge to roll her eyes) immediately made a grab for their little pet lemur. “I've never seen such a fine specimen of lemur. That beast would fetch me a hefty sum if you'd be interested in bartering.”

Aang pulled Momo close to his chest and stated firmly, “Momo’s not for sale.”

“Look at this, Aang. It's a waterbending scroll!” Aang walked over to where Katara was standing. “Check out these crazy moves.”

Aang turned to the captain, excited. “Where did you get a waterbending scroll?”

The captain immediately slammed his hand onto the scroll and pulled it away from the two young travellers. “Let's just say I got it up North, at a most reasonable price, free.” He rolled the scroll back up and put it away back on its shelf.

Sokka was about to voice his suspicions when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking at Aika, he saw her shake her head slightly, silently conveying that she would take care of it. She stepped up to the table where the younger two were glaring at the pirate, and stated, “Well then, if it was free then any price you get for it is a profit for you.” Sokka saw the tip of her wand from the top of her sleeve and knew not to intervene in this one. He had the sudden urge to pull Aang and Katara back towards him, but he was beaten to it when the older girl discreetly pushed them back so she could get in front of them.

The pirate grinned, “Aye, but I've already got a buyer, a nobleman in the Earth Kingdom. Unless of course, you kids have two hundred gold pieces on you right now.”

She eyed him shrewdly, “No you don’t. Judging from the amount of dust and cobwebs around where my younger sister picked that scroll up, no one has looked at that scroll in years. I bet you didn’t even know you had the scroll at all. Now, I’m willing to trade five gold pieces and the assurance that I won’t blow a hole right through the hull of your ship.” Sokka raised his eyebrows in surprise, they didn’t have that kind of money. 

After a moment of silence, obviously sizing her up and having evaluated her threat, the captain countered, “One hundred.” That surprised Sokka further since it was such a significant drop in price. Even Aang and Katara were surprised.

“Eight.” Aika’s voice was cold and hard as steel.

The captain laughed hysterically. “Do you even know how rare this is?”

“Yes, but it’s also completely and utterly useless to you isn’t it? Unless you have a waterbender amongst your… unsavoury business acquaintances,” she sneered, looking around at the few other pirates that had come into the ship. “You and your… men, can’t use it, no one else is coming to buy it. Ten gold pieces is my final offer. I suggest you take it.”

The three younger teens watched the staring match that took place between their older sister and the pirate. Sokka firmly believed that whoever blinked first would lose. And that turned out to be the pirate captain. “Alright, lady. Ten gold pieces for the scroll.” Aika didn’t move, didn’t blink, simply raised her eyebrow. The captain groaned and said gruffly, “Fine, ten gold pieces for the waterbending scroll.”

Reaching into her pocket where her charmed bag was, Aika silently summoned ten gold pieces that she had changed into Earth Kingdom coins. The pieces were the total sum of two galleons. She carefully counted out the coins in front of the pirate and at the same time, she smacked them down on the table and snatched the scroll. Double checking that it was the correct scroll, she nodded once to the captain, who nodded back, she guided the others out of the ship. When they reached the ground, she told them, “Walk calmly away and do not look back at them. They will follow if they believe we are scared.”

To their credit, they straightened up and walked alongside her at a sedate pace until they rounded the corner of the building and out of sight of the ship. When they felt they were far enough away and Aika had confirmed that no one was following or around them, Sokka exploded, “What the hell was that? Where did you get that money?!”

Aika laughed, “You know energy-bending can create things. Did you think it couldn’t create money too?”

“What?” Katara asked.

“I didn’t come here empty-handed, as you all know. I was living in a war back then. Did you really think I didn’t pack all my money with my things and store it all in my bag?”

“We could be living like kings!” Sokka was extremely pleased by this turn of events.

Aika smacked him at the back of his head, “You already live better than most in the tent. You don’t need more than that. Besides, my supply is not limitless. I may have a lot, but it will run out if we start spending it on everything.” She handed the scroll to Katara. “Here, you and Aang need to learn.”

When Katara started hogging the scroll back at their camp, Aika had stepped in and said, “Katara, learning is important, but not at the detriment of others.” She cast a levitation charm on it so both Katara and Aang could see it. “Now, both of you start practising.”

And that was the end of that.

“Where’s Momo?” Aang asked. Katara, Aika and Sokka looked around from where they sat, searching for the little lemur. 

Suddenly, they heard Momo screech in the distance. They all started walking in the general direction of the sound, hoping they would come across him. Aang was the one who spotted the three animals in cage traps hanging by a rope on tree limbs, Momo among them. “Hang on, Momo!” Aang used his airbending to fly to the top of the tree, jumping from trunk to trunk to get higher. He found the traps' mechanisms, undid them, and carefully lowered Momo to the ground where Katara, Aika and Sokka were waiting. 

Aika opened the trap and the little lemur ran out with one of the lychee nuts in his mouth. All three looked on as Momo got on his hind legs and ate it as though nothing had happened. Sokka grunted in frustration and facepalmed. When Aang landed, he looked up to see the other two animals seemingly crying out to him for help. “All right, you too.”

“This is gonna take forever.” Sokka simply threw his boomerang to cut the other animals free.

“That works,” Aang remarked.

Sokka knelt down, “These are Fire Nation traps, you can tell from the metalwork. We better pack up camp, and get moving.” The group head back to camp, where a few flicks later, it was all packed up. Just as Katara was climbing onto Appa, Sokka stopped her, “No flying this time.”

“What? Why wouldn't we fly?” questioned Aang.

“Think about it: Somehow Prince Zuko and the Fire Nation keep finding us. It's because they spot Appa, he's just too noticeable.”

“What? Appa's not too noticeable!” Katara retorted.

The water tribe boy pointed dramatically at Appa and declared condescendingly, “He's a gigantic fluffy monster with an arrow on his head! It's kinda hard to miss him!” Appa yawned and grunted.

The airbender turned to his bison, “Sokka’s just jealous ‘cause he doesn’t have an arrow.”

Sokka insisted, “I know you all wanna fly, but my instincts tell me we should play it safe this time and walk.”

“Who made you boss?” Katara inquired.

Proudly, Sokka claimed, “I’m not the boss; I’m the leader!”

Katara rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “If anyone’s the leader, it’s Aang or Aika. He’s the Avatar and Aika is the eldest and an energy-bender.”

Sokka glared at his sister, “It can't be Aang, he’s just a goofy kid!” Aang, who was hanging off Appa like a limpet, agreed with Sokka’s statement.

“Why do boys always think someone has to be the leader?” Katara asked Aika, who shrugged, not really caring in the least about this argument. “I bet you wouldn't be so bossy if you kissed a girl,” she commented to her brother.

He didn’t rise to the bait, “Look, my instincts tell me we have a better chance of slipping through on foot, and a leader has to trust his instincts.”

Aika rolled her eyes, finally fed up, “Okay Sokka, o wise leader, we’ll walk for a bit. Whoever is right reserves the right to say ‘I told you so”, deal?”

“Deal,” the two water tribe siblings agreed.

Aang had to chip in, “Who knows? Walking might be fun.”

Aika wrapped her arm over Aang's shoulder, leading him down the path. “Walking stinks, kid, you’ll see.”

Thirty minutes later, Aang loudly pronounced, “Walking stinks! How does anyone get anywhere without a flying bison?!”

“Well I don't know, Aang. Why don't you ask Sokka's instincts? They seem to know everything,” Katara remarked sarcastically.

Aika, who had been walking ahead suddenly halted. “Stop.”

“What? What is it?” Aang asked, looking around for any sign of danger. 

“Fire Nation camp ahead.” She gestured them to huddle. “Stay here. I’ll go see if I can find a way to get around them somehow.” Sokka started to protest, but the words died on his lips at the glare she sent him. Yeah, maybe she was the leader. Not that Sokka would explicitly tell her that.

It was about five minutes later when they heard Aika’s voice call out, “It’s okay, you can come over now!”

Thinking something had happened to her since they knew that she would never call out to them like this, they all ran to where she was. Only to find Fire Nation soldiers littered over the ground, out cold, and another group of teens gaping at her. “What happened? Are you okay?” He saw a rip in her dress, but no blood or anything.

Aika’s smile could have lit the earth, it was so bright, “Of course I am! That was so much fun!” Aika was usually so calm, that Sokka forgot she loved the thrill of fighting. Or duelling as she called it.

“You...She… What just happened?” the boy at the front of the other group spluttered.

One of his friends piped up, “Well, Jet, it looked like that girl just beat up a whole group of Fire Nation soldiers with coloured lights.”

The leader, Jet, regained his focus. “Thanks for that. We had been wondering how to ambush and take this camp out for days now. You’ve just done our work for us.” Sokka immediately didn’t like this smarmy guy and he certainly didn’t like how he was looking at Aika. “The name’s Jet.”

“Aika,” she said curtly. “And those are my siblings, Sokka, Katara and Aang.”

Jet introduced his group as well, but none of the travellers could remember their names. “So, Aika, what did you do to these guys?”

She shrugged, “Some secrets stay secret, Jet. Surely a man in your line of work can understand that.”

Jet smirked, obviously trying to be charming, “My line of work?” Aika couldn’t really be falling for this, could she? Sokka had to warn her away from guys like this. He knew that she had never had a boyfriend, so this was one area he knew she wouldn’t know too much about.

“You know… theft, vandalism and being a small nuisance for the Fire Nation Army,” Aika replied.

That startled Jet. “What?”

Aika rolled her eyes and walked over to her group, and responded condescendingly, “Sweetheart, did you really think that would work on me? You’d have better luck with Momo.” She gestured at the lemur on Aang’s shoulder. Sokka swallowed the urge to laugh.

Jet glared at her for a second, but then he seemingly let it go. One of his lackeys called out, “Hey Jet, they have a whole heap of blasting jelly! And jellied candy too!”

“Best not to get those two mixed up,” Jet quipped, trying to be funny. “Take them back to the hideout.”

Aang caught that quickly, “You guys have a hideout?”

“You wanna see it?”

Katara nodded quickly, “Yes, we wanna see it!” 

Sokka peeked at his younger sister and he almost groaned. The girl practically had hearts in her eyes as she looked at Jet. Brilliant.

“Alright, follow me.” They walked a little bit further into the tree line, Katara hanging off Jet’s every word. 

Throughout their stay with the Freedom Fighters, Aika made no move to make friends with any of them, or even talk to them for that matter. Sokka tried to get Katara and Aang to see sense but they wouldn’t listen. Or rather, Katara refused to listen and Aang just went along with her. Aika knew that these stupid kids were going to blow up the dam and flood the village, but she made no move to stop it. Honestly, she didn’t give a rat’s ass about a Fire Nation occupied village, but as soon as Sokka went missing in the morning and Katara and Aang went along to help Jet, she had had enough.

Finding Aang and Katara waterbending upstream, on their third spout, she cast, “ _Glacias._ ” All the water surrounding the area froze.

“Hey! What did you do that for?” Katara cried angrily.

“Do you know where this water goes Katara?”

The girl glared at her, and said haughtily, “Yes, of course! Down to the reservoir.”

“And did you know your little thug of a boyfriend was planning to blow up the reservoir, flooding the village below it, all to kill the nine or ten Fire Nation soldiers stationed there?” Aika accused.

“Jet would never! You’re lying!”

Aang frowned, “Why would Aika lie, Katara?”

“She doesn’t like Jet any more than Sokka does!”

“Then, I’ll show you.”

Without all the spouts of water draining into the reservoir, the dam was only partly full when they arrived. Aika pointed down at the bottom, “Now, tell me Katara, why would Jet be placing barrels of blasting jelly, which he stole from the Fire Nation in front of you might I add, at the bottom of the wooden planks that hold up the dam?”

Aang was convinced easily, “Because Jet’s gonna blow up the dam.”

Katara shook her head, “No, that would destroy the town. Jet wouldn’t do that.”

Aang opened up his glider, “I’ve gotta stop them!” Aika placed her hand on his arm, stopping his take off. 

“I’ve already taken care of it.”

He frowned, “What did you do?”

Aika smirked, “A simple switching spell.”

“So you switched the containers filled with blasting jelly, with the ones that had the jellied candy?” Sokka asked. Aika idly twirled a strand of her hair in the breeze. She was glad that Sokka’s instincts had allowed them to fly on Appa again. She wasn’t used to walking long distances anymore. 

“Yep, it’s a spell that we learn in fifth year at school.”

“So I didn’t have to run into the village like a maniac screaming for everyone to get out?”

She laughed, Katara and Aang joining in. “No, you didn’t, Sokka. No, you didn’t.”

Sokka and Katara were in the middle of another sibling battle that morning, which Aang had managed to settle quickly, but they weren’t in the best of moods for the journey that day. Aang, in his infinite twelve-year-old wisdom, decided that he would continue his ‘feud settling’ streak by helping two tribes solve their differences by getting across the canyon together. Needless to say, it wasn’t going well. 

When the canyon guide strictly told them that no food was allowed in the canyon because the crawlers would attack, Aika knew that both tribes were going to bring food. So she discreetly vanished all the food they had hidden in their packs and clothes. Not only did the large group not get attacked, but the tour guide didn’t get his arms broken. Katara and Sokka still split up at Aang’s request to see why the two tribes fought so much, but when it came time to settle for camp for the night, she could hear members of both groups yell and scream about their missing food.

Aika cackled and Aang grew concerned, “What’s so funny, Aika?” She told him what she had done, without revealing ‘energy-bending’ because they were with the canyon guide. “Aika! Now they’ll never get along!”

She wrapped her arms around the powerful kid. “Listen, not everyone is going to get along. Not everyone will always see eye to eye. But I would rather these two tribes fight than be dinner for creepy crawlies.”

The earthbending canyon guide agreed, “She’s right you know. The canyon crawlers would have attacked as soon and we brought food in here.” Aang reluctantly relented.

The next day, after a few white lies on Aang’s part, the four travellers were once again flying through the skies on their awesome bison. 

Sokka made himself very comfortable in Appa’s saddle, “Let’s never walk again. I got blisters!”

“Agreed.”


	8. Stormy Aftermath and Wheels of Fortune

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.

Sokka was an idiot. 

Of course, the moron had decided to go out into the middle of a bloody typhoon and get himself sick. Aika tried giving him a pepper-up potion, but it was no use on this monster of an illness; she had got to him too late. Aika had done everything in her power to make sure that they didn’t go out into the storm, but Sokka had decided to go fishing anyway. Something stupid about missing the ‘simple life’.

Sokka was an idiot.

A very sick idiot who was currently curled up on the sofa, muttering nonsense and hallucinating.

Katara pressed a wet cloth against his forehead, “Here, this should bring your fever down.” Sokka said something stupid about Appa, causing the bison to grunt and the boy to laugh again.

“I couldn't find any ginger root for the tea,” Aang said as he strolled back into the tent. “But I found a map. There's a herbalist institute on top of that mountain. We could probably find a cure for Sokka there.”

“Aang, he's in no condition to travel. Sokka just needs more rest. I'm sure he'll be better by tomorrow.” Katara said as Aika brought over a mug of herbal tea for Sokka. Katara started coughing. 

“Not you too!” Aang cried.

“Relax, it was just a little cough. I'm fi-” She coughed again, this time with greater force, and lightly groaned after.

“That's how Sokka started yesterday. Now look at him! He thinks he's an earthbender!” Aang remarked.

Clearly delirious, Sokka hollered, “Take that, you rock!” He flailed his arms, as if he was hitting something. Aika pinched the bridge of her nose and went to pour more tea for Katara.

“A few more hours and you'll be talking nonsense, too. I'm going to go find some medicine!” Aang proclaimed. He grabbed his glider and began to head out just as a flash of lightning struck. “Uh, maybe it's safer if I go on foot.” 

“Not without me, you aren’t,” Aika stated, strapping her wand to her arm. “Trouble always finds you, kid.”

Aang nodded and turned to Appa and Momo. “Keep an eye on them guys.” Appa groaned while Momo chittered. 

Sokka laughed, “Ha, ha! You guys are killing me!”

Making sure they had plenty of water and soup on hand, Aika and Aang left. She locked down the tent with magic, so no one could get inside without her present.

Sokka was an idiot.

After getting hit with a spoon, Aang was thoroughly horrified when he was told that Katara and Sokka would need to suck on frozen wood frogs. Aika laughed as they left the herbalist, “If you think that’s nasty, we constantly use ingredients like bubotuber pus or boomslang skin or lacewing flies in our potions. A frog has nothing on polyjuice potion." She shuddered at the memory of the foul concoction. Aang was even more horrified. “Let’s go get those frogs.”

Along the way to the swamp, they ran into trouble. Archers. The first volley of arrows pinned Aang’s pants to the ground as he created an air-shield to defend them both. Freeing him, she conjured a shield over them while Aang collected the frogs. He was about to stuff them into his shirt when Aika shoved a bag for him to put them in and she cast another freezing charm on them to make sure they didn’t melt. 

In the meantime, volley after volley of arrows hit the shield. Suddenly, a pained cry from Aang distracted her and the shield faltered. Before she could conjure another, they were surrounded by the archers and captured. Aika quickly and discreetly stowed her wand in her sleeve before they knocked her out.

When she came too, the first thing she saw was Aang. Her honorary little brother was bound at his legs and arms in chains against a pole, barely able to move. She blinked, clearing her vision - man, her head hurt - and saw she was not bound at all, in fact, she was quite free, but locked in a cage. Aang saw her finally wake up and was absolutely furious at seeing his big sister locked in a cage, like an animal. He struggled against the chains, “Aika! It’s okay, don’t worry, I’ll get you out of there.”

From a dark corner, like a villain from a movie, Zhao emerged, “So this is the great Avatar. Master of all the elements. I don't know how you've managed to elude the Fire Nation for a hundred years, but your little game of hide and seek is over.”

Fuming, Aang shouted, “I've never hidden from you! Untie me and I'll fight you right now!”

Zhao simply raised an eyebrow. “Uhh, no. Tell me, how does it feel to be the only airbender left? Do you miss your people?” The pain in Aang’s eyes was evident, but he didn’t let it show on his face. He kept his eyes locked on Aika’s. “Don't worry, you won't be killed like they were,” Zhao assured, causing the boy to look at him furiously again. “See, if you die you will just be reborn and the Fire Nation would have to start searching all over again. So I'll keep you alive, but just barely.” Aang took a deep breath and blew at gale force at Zhao, who fell over. “Blow all the wind you want, but your situation is futile. There is no escaping this fortress, and no one is coming to rescue you.”

Zhao turned to Aika, who lent against the bars of the cage, unconcerned. “Now, who are you? The Yuyan archers couldn’t tell me what element you bend, just that you kept their arrows away. Is it possible that there are two airbenders?” Zhao looked curiously between Aang and Aika. “No matter. I’m sure you could just be bound and used as tonight’s entertainment nonetheless.”

Aika snarled viciously, “Do that, and I will ensure that every single man who touches me loses an important part of their anatomy in the slowest and most painful way possible.”

Zhao laughed boisterously, “You have a fiery spirit, girl!” He reached out to touch her hair where a few strands had come loose from her high ponytail, but she pulled away. He dropped his hand. “Hair like a twilight fire… You would make a wonderful bride for a Fire Nation Admiral.”

She could hear Aang’s chains rattling louder as he struggled harder to get free. “You won’t win, you know,” she muttered casually as if talking about the weather. “The bad guys always lose.” Zhao sniffed and dismissed her, walking out the door.

“Aika, are you okay?! I promise I’ll get you out of there!”

She smiled and pulled out her wand, stupid Fire Nation soldiers, leaving her with her weapon. Of course, even if they could have found it (not likely since she had an invisible holster made for the duelling tournament circuit; sabotaging someone else's wand before a competition was a thing at the international level), they would never have assumed that anything could be done with a simple stick. 

“Alohomora,” she incanted. The lock on her cage popped free. It made a loud snapping sound and she saw shuffling from the light underneath the door. Thankfully, no one bothered to come in to check on their prisoners. Stupid Fire Nation soldiers. Casting a _silencio_ on the cage hinges, she quickly pushed open the door and hurried to her little brother.

“I’m so so sorry Aika,” he pleaded, his head down in shame. “I am so sorry we got captured.”

Lifting his head so she met his eyes, she pushed all her fondness and sisterly love to the surface of her own where he would be able to see it. “No, Aang. No. You are not to blame at all. This is why I came along. I protect you, it’s what older siblings do.” She heard more shuffling outside the room. “Now, what's to say you and I get the heck out of this place and back to Sokka and Katara. Sokka has probably started eating his own socks thinking they’re food by now.”

Aang giggled, cheering up a bit. “Yeah, probably.” Casting a _muffliato_ around them and a few _silencios_ on the locks and chains just in case, she freed the young Avatar. Just as she got the last chain from around him, they heard noises of violence coming from through the door. The two benders froze. The sounds stopped abruptly and are replaced by the sound of the lock turning in the door. The door opened and a man in a blue mask entered the room. The Blue Spirit. Zuko. He brandished two curved swords and started to run at them, but belatedly noticed that they were already free from their bindings. The Blue Spirit walked back toward the door, motioning them to follow.

The two looked at each other, shrugged simultaneously and followed. Aang and Aika were led by the Blue Spirit into the sewer system, walking silently underneath the fortress. They could see soldiers walk back and forth above them. Eventually, they all hopped out of a grate and into one of the courtyards. Before long, the three would-be escapees, who were scaling a rope on the innermost wall of the fortress, are spotted as one of the guards shouted, “There, on the wall!”

A soldier appeared at the top of the wall they were climbing. He cut the rope and the three fell down the wall, Aang screaming. Aika cast a cushioning charm and they all landed without breaking anything. When the dust cleared, the Blue Spirit unsheathed his swords and they ran. They heard Zhao shout, “The Avatar has escaped! Close all the gates immediately!” 

As they ran, Aang passed the Blue Spirit and Aika. “Stay close to me!” he demanded.

The third gate started closing in front of them, as did the two gates beyond it, and it was blocked by many soldiers. Aang airbended a blast of air that blew most of them out of the way. Aang made for the gate, pulling his older sister along, but the Blue Spirit was dragged into the melee by the remaining soldiers and had to stop and fend them off. The airbender turned around to make sure he was following, only to see the Blue Spirit in trouble. 

Without pausing, he grabbed a spear from a guard near him, airbended him out of the way, spun it around and broke the head off the spear on the ground and launched back into battle to save his new friend. Aika groaned softly at her brother’s saving people thing and pulled out her wand once again. 

The gate closed behind them. She saw that the Blue Spirit was surrounded, but Aang airbended all the soldiers out of the way. With a mighty effort, he catapulted the Blue Spirit to the top of the third wall. What the hell was he doing? She conjured a strong shield around herself as she watched in fascination at the battle taking place on the wall. Soldiers and firebenders alike bounce off the shield and eventually, they give up, realising that they were hurting themselves more than her. She was completely confused when she observed the Blue Spirit climb onto Aang’s back. 

Aang was an idiot.

Instead of getting his ass back on the ground where she could help, he proceeded to use ladders as massive stilts. She needed to have a talk with him about crazy stunts. She deactivated the shield and made a break for it before the soldiers around her noticed that the shield was gone. Casting _defodio_ to cut through the metal gate, she managed to reach them just as the bottom of their final stilt was set on fire by a Fire Nation soldier. It was too late though, as Aang and the masked man jumped from the last stilt and just managed to grab the edge of the final wall. She gasped as they weren’t able to hang on and fell to the ground. The Blue Spirit picked himself up and drew his swords as Aika ran to her little brother to check on him. Four firebenders unleashed their flame on them, but Aika shoved the masked man behind her and flicked her wand to send the flames away.

“Hold your fire! The Avatar and the girl must be captured alive!” commanded Zhao.

The Blue Spirit instantly comes up behind both of them and crosses each sword in front of their throats, surprising them. A stand-off ensued. 

Zhao yielded and spoke through gritted teeth, “Open the gate.”

An officer asked, “Admiral, what are you doing?”

“Let them out, now!”

The gate was opened and the Blue Spirit backed out with his captives, swords still at their throats. It was only a few moments later when suddenly the masked man collapsed backwards. Aang turned in horror, his eyes glazed. However, he quickly recovered, turned back around and airbended up a huge cloud of dust around him, his sister and the Blue Spirit.

Inside the dust cloud, Aang removed the Blue Spirit's mask to reveal Zuko. He backed up in horror but tripped and fell backwards on the ground. He jumped up and started to run away, but noticed that Aika wasn’t with him. Instead, she was kneeling on the ground next to Zuko, her eyes huge and full of compassion. Aang spotted the Fire Nation soldiers getting close through the dust. Still, he hesitated, afraid of what the prince would do to him and his sister if they got him out of there. He glanced at her, conveying every emotion through his eyes.

When the dust cleared, the soldiers found nothing. 

Zuko blinked, waking up. Aang sat on a nearby root, looking forlorn. Zuko was still a bit dazed, but he felt soft hands moving over his wounds, and the pain slowly faded each time. He struggled to move, but the hands pushed him back down gently, silently commanding him to stay still. He could feel a slight tingling sensation over his left eye, but he was used to phantom pains from the burn and pushed it away.

Not comfortable in the silence, Aang said, “You know what the worst part of being born over a hundred years ago is? I miss all the friends I used to hang out with. Before the war started, I used to always visit my friend Kuzon. The two of us, we'd get in and out of so much trouble together. He was one of the best friends I ever had, and he was from the Fire Nation, just like you. If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends, too?”

After a pause, when the hands backed away from him, Zuko let loose a huge fireball at the Avatar, but Aang dodged and flew away on a current of air. Zuko watched the kid hop away from tree branch to tree branch and out of sight. Rustling beside him let him know that the girl was gone too.

Aang and Aika returned to the tent, Aang was slightly downcast and he practically sank into the sofa. Aika grabbed the frozen frogs out of her bag and stuck one into Katara and Sokka’s mouths. “Suck on these. They’ll make you feel better.”

With his mouth full and still spouting out nonsense, Sokka asked, “Aang, how was your trip? Did you make any new friends?”

Aang sighed, “No, I don’t think I did.” Aika placed her hand on his shoulder, supporting her little brother. He looked up at her gratefully.

Sokka sucked on the frog a bit more, “Mmmm! This is tasty! Mmm!” The frog eventually thawed out and began moving around and croaking. Sokka realized what it is and spat it out in disgust. Katara's frog had also thawed and she cried out and it hopped out of her mouth. Both Katara and Sokka began spitting and coughing; Aika simply handed them each a tea to get rid of the frog taste.

***

Zuko returned to his ship and his Uncle Iroh was waiting for him. “Where have you been, Prince Zuko? You missed music night! Lieutenant Jee sang a stirring love song.” The old general caught sight of his nephew and gasped. “Zuko! What have you done?”

Zuko frowned, “What do you mean?”

“Your scar… It’s… It’s gone.”

***

Aika watched on as Aang desperately tried over and over to get Katara to notice him. It was sweet and cute and entirely hilarious as the young girl remained completely oblivious to Aang’s advances. When Sokka teased the airbender, Katara just replied, “Stop teasing him, Sokka. Aang's just a good friend.” She pat the side of his head. "A sweet, little guy! Just like Momo.” The older girl’s laugh was strategically covered by a cough when Aang glared at her.

Sokka, who obviously didn’t believe in predictions of the future, was completely unimpressed when Katara insisted that they go see the local fortune teller. Aika took pity on the stubborn boy and let him under her umbrella as it rained.

When they got to the village at the base of the mountain, the group walked around for a bit before they were greeted by a man in black robes standing by a circular doorway. “Aunt Wu is expecting you.”

The little girl, Meng, was as creepy as Aika first thought, commenting on the size of Aang’s ears and making him slightly self-conscious. Meanwhile, Sokka kept hounding Katara that fortune-telling was just a bunch of nonsense. After a few more awkward moments between Meng and Aang, Aunt Wu finally appears, “Welcome, young travellers. Now, who's next? Don't be shy.”

Katara volunteers to go first and heads to the back with the lady, practically jumping in anticipation. Aika smiled and gave the girl a thumbs up as she passed and Katara grinned and blushed in response. Sokka offered Aang some of the bean puffs, but he refused the bowl, “I'm good on puffs.” Sokka shrugged and continued eating the puffs. Trying to act casual, Aang asked, “So, what do you think they're talking about back there?”

Sokka and Aika shared a conspiratory side-eye look. Casually, holding up puff, he replied, “Boring stuff I'm sure. Love, who she's going to marry, how many babies she's going to have.”

The twelve-year-old, still trying to act cool, was not fooling anybody. “Yeah, dumb stuff like that…” The other two shared another look behind the airbender’s back. Aang tensed a bit and bit his fingers nervously. “Well, I've got to find a bathroom!” he announced, rushing to the back.

Aika and Sokka burst into quiet laughter. “How much do you wanna bet he’s trying to listen in on Katara’s fortune?” Sokka asked the older girl.

“No deal. I would be practically giving away money if I took bets like that!” The boy just laughed, eating another puff. When Aang emerged from the back, he looked happy and giddy.

She couldn’t help but tease him a bit, “Looks like someone had a pretty good bathroom break.” Aang glared at her and blushed crimson.

Wu came back out with Katara, who looked happy as well. She sat back down and Wu said to Sokka, “Your future is full of struggle and anguish. Most of it, self-inflicted.”

He held up his hands in protest. “But you didn't read my palms or anything!”

“I don't need to. It's written all over your face,” she responded dryly. Sokka resumed picking his teeth in disgust. The woman then pointed to Aang, “You there, come with me.” He followed her. When he came back out five minutes later, he was pleased with his fortune. Wu came back one last time, looking a bit shaken up.

“One more?”

Aika raised her brows, “Oh no, I…”

“Go on, Aika,” Katara encouraged. “Maybe you’ll find out who you get to marry!”

Not bothering to fight, Aika followed the woman back into the fortune-telling bit. Instructing her to take a bone and throw it onto the fire, Aika did so, humouring the lady. The bone cracked and splintered, some bits disintegrating altogether. Wu simply stares at it. Without a word, Wu grabbed Aika’s hands roughly, and she ignored the need to wrench her hands away and hex her. After what seems like forever, Wu lifts her head to stare into Aika’s eyes. 

“You are powerful, equal to the Avatar. Your destiny is entwined with his. But while his power strives for constant balance and goodness, yours does not. Do not allow yourself to turn dark, for this would spell the destruction of us all.” The woman looked down at her palms again. “I can see great love, he will be your anchor at the times you need it most. He will ground you, and you will do the same for him. He is conflicted, in pain. You will help heal him, and in turn, he will heal you.”

The first part was interesting, but not very surprising. The second bit was nice to know but didn’t really change much. She didn’t need a great love, or someone to desperately cling to. She didn’t want to be hopelessly searching for a man that might not exist. If Aika met this guy along the way, great, if not, no harm done. 

“Thanks, I guess,” She said dully, standing up. The old woman looked even more shaken than she had with Aang. “So, what do we owe you?”

The woman looked up in surprise, “Pardon?”

“What do we owe you for the fortunes?” Aika repeated.

She waved her away. “Nothing, dear. Nothing at all.”

As the girl left, Aunt Wu stared in horror at her back. “Oh please, great spirits. Keep that one on the right path.”

Of course, the four had to save the town from a fiery explosion of lava. Actually, it was mainly Aang who did the heavy lifting in this one. Seeing Aang turn the lava into stone with his breath, Sokka commented absently, “Man, sometimes I forget what a powerful bender that kid is.”

Katara's expression changed at his words, obviously recalling Aunt Wu's words about her future love and marriage. “Wait, what did you just say?”

Sokka shrugged casually, “Nothing, just that Aang is one powerful bender.”

Katara’s eyes slowly widened in realization, “I suppose he is.”

Sokka and Aika winked conspiratorially at each other over her head, as Katara’s gaze is locked on Aang.

All in a day’s work for two older siblings.


	9. More Adventures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.
> 
> This one is more of a filler chapter.

Bato was a strange character. He came from the Water Tribe and Katara and Sokka were really glad to see him. Sokka immediately introduces the two to him, “Bato, this is Aika. She washed up on our shores and we took her in. Our older sister,” Aika was surprised that she was introduced in such a manner. “And this is Aang.” The airbender bowed in greeting. “He’s family too.” Aang smiled brightly at Sokka.

The problem was that Katara and Sokka were so excited to see someone from their tribe that they left out poor Aang. Even Aika was a bit more included because she had lived with them for a few months before they left. Even now as they sat in the Abbey, their positions were faced away from the airbender. Then Bato said, “There's something I should tell you kids. I'm expecting a message from your father.” She glanced at Aang who had his eyes closed, downcast and obviously saddened. 

Katara was excited, “Really?”

“When?” Sokka demanded.

“Any day now. Your father said he'd send a message when they found the rendezvous point. If you wait until the message arrives, you can come with me, and see your father again.”

“It's been over two years since we've seen Dad. That would be so incredible! Katara!”

The young girl nodded, “I do really miss him, it would be great to see Dad.” Aang stood to leave, but no one noticed. 

“It's been far too long, hasn't it?” Aang silently made his way out, deeply disheartened that his friends would leave him out and abandon him. “I'm not sure when word will arrive, but when it does-” The airbender didn’t hear anything more as he shut the door and left the abbey for the beach.

“It would be great, but we can't. We have to take Aang to the North Pole first,” said Sokka.

His sister agreed, “Even if we do have time to wait for the message, who knows how far we'd have to travel. We don't have time for a long detour.” Aika glanced around and saw that the small monk in question was no longer there and quickly figured out where he was. 

Getting up, she said, “Where is he anyway? You guys stay here and catch up with Bato, I’ll go look for him.” She smiled and they were instantly reassured. Aika would find him. The two Water Tribe teens watched as their older sister left to search for him and then turned back to Bato. 

The older man continued, “I'm sure your father would understand, and be proud that his children are helping the Avatar.”

When Aika found him, he was already talking to the messenger. She watched until the man left and heard Aang exclaim, “It's the map to Sokka and Katara's dad!”

She watched as he paused and then crumbled up the parchment, stuffed it inside his clothes and sat back down on the bow of Bato’s small boat. She knew she couldn’t leave the poor boy in this state. Silently, she meandered her way over to him, but he didn’t notice her until she sat down next to him. 

After a few moments of silence, she muttered, “Aren’t you going to give that to Bato?” She felt Aang tense beside her. “It’s not nice to keep someone else’s messages from them.”

Slowly, Aang reached back into his clothes and pulled out the crumpled map. “They are going to leave me,” he whispered sadly, his posture curled slightly and his eyes filling with unshed tears. 

She wrapped her arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer. “And if they did? You keeping their map from them wouldn’t stop them. It would make them not trust you anymore.” Aang’s posture crumbled even more. “Either way. I don’t know their dad, but I know you, so I would be going with you.”

The twelve-year-old looked up at her, picking apart her expression for any sign of insincerity. When he found none, he relaxed again. “Thanks, Aika.” 

“Anything for my little brother.” She squeezed his shoulders in a side hug before jumping down from the boat and facing him. “Now, let’s go give them that map.”

He nodded and followed her back into the abbey. When Aika told them how Aang had gone for a walk and was intercepted by a messenger looking for Bato, the others didn’t even think to question her. She saw no reason whatsoever to tell them what Aang had been planning. Later, when Bato bestows upon Aang, the Mark of the Trusted, and says that he is now an honorary member of the Water Tribe, he briefly glanced at Aika. She nodded once, and he accepted the honour without guilt. Aika was granted the Mark of the Powerful.

Zuko and Iroh found them by using a shirshu as a tracker. They were just about to leave on Appa when a low rumbling noise halted their movement. Suddenly a large beast with three passengers on it’s back stormed the beach. Aika quickly drew her wand, pushing the three younger teens behind her to face the monster. 

A fierce-looking woman, obviously the beast’s trainer, asked Zuko, “So which one if your girlfriend?” She quickly studied both the girl with long reddish hair in the front and the younger girl with brown hair behind her. Aika saw the prince jump down from the beast, his helmet concealing most of his face, so she couldn’t see if the potion had worked. Eh, she would find out another day. “No wonder she left, either one is way too pretty for you,” the woman commented. 

Aika smirked and before anyone else could move, she cast a charm that would remove their scents so the beast couldn’t track them, summoned the necklace in Zuko’s hand and hurried the other teens onto Appa. Zuko and the woman on the beast charged at them, but they were too late, as the group soared away on Appa.

Aang was excited to see a Fire Day Festival. The group bought masks so they could blend in and went to see a performance. However, the kid thought Katara was really in danger when she was called up to the stage as a volunteer and revealed himself to everyone. They ran.

An ex-Fire Nation soldier by the name of Chey tried to lead them out, but they were saved in the nick of time by Appa. When they landed, Chey said to them, “I serve a man. More than a man really, he's a myth, but he's real, a living legend, Jeong Jeong the Deserter. He was a Fire Nation general, or wait, was he an admiral?”

Sokka was not amused. “He was very highly ranked, we get it.”

“Yeah! Way up there! But he couldn't take the madness anymore. He's the first person ever to leave the army - and live. I'm the second, but you don't get to be a legend for that. That's okay though. Jeong Jeong's a firebending genius. Some say he's mad - but he's not! He's enlightened.”

“You mean there's a firebender out here who's not with the Fire Lord?” Aang asked in excitement, getting up. “We've gotta go see him! He can train me!”

“We're not gonna go find some crazy firebender!” Sokka snapped.

Chey, clearly annoyed, stood up as well. “He's not crazy! He's a genius! And he's the perfect person to train the Avatar! That's why I followed you into the festival.”

Katara butted in, “Look, thanks for the help, but we're leaving for the North Pole in the morning.”

“Sokka, Katara, this could be my only chance to meet a firebending master who would actually be willing to teach me,” Aang pleaded.

“No, Aang.”

The boy in question turned to look at Aika. This was the first time she had spoken in a few days and they were surprised. “What?”

“You must master the elements in order,” she said placatingly. “Water first, then Earth. Fire is last.”

He glared at her. “I don’t take orders from you!” Huffing, he stalked away with Chey.

“Are you just going to let him go?” Katara whispered to her. Sokka was huffing angrily at how the airbender had disregarded their words. 

Aika stood quietly and started setting up their tent, the tension so thick that Sokka and Katara could have cut it with a knife. By dinner, Aang wasn’t back at camp. Sokka jumped up, “This is ridiculous. I’m going to look for him.” Aika simply put her hand on his shoulder and conveyed everything he needed to know without words. Aika would go look. And she was not happy.

She tracked Aang to the cottage where Jeong Jeong lived, taking out many of the men who tried to stop her. When she got there, she heard through the door, “Yes, yes, I will teach you.”

“Really? That’s great!” Aang was so excited and happy when he left the cottage that he didn’t see Aika standing there until he ran into her. “Aika! Did you hear? Jeong Jeong is going to teach me firebending!”

She raised a brow and looked back inside the cottage where an older man stood staring at Aang’s back. “Okay, Aang. Let’s get back to get a good night's rest for your first firebending session tomorrow.”

Aang was so distracted by his glee that he never noticed the look of death that the girl sent his new firebending teacher. 

Needless to say that Aang’s firebending lesson did not go well. Aika walked him back to Jeong Jeong’s in the morning, Sokka and Katara insisting on coming too. Aang was just too excitable and eager to start bending fire, and his teacher was an irate old man that didn’t know how to handle the bundle of energy that was the Avatar. He was condescending, rude and, frankly, a crappy teacher.

Eventually, Aang snapped, “I want you to stop wasting my time! I already know how to squat and breathe and feel the sun! I wanna know how to shoot fire out of my fingertips!”

Jeong Jeong sighed gruffly, “I had a pupil once who had no interest in learning discipline. He was only concerned with the power of fire - how he could use it to destroy his opponents and wipe out the obstacles in his path, but fire is a horrible burden to bear. Its nature is to consume and without control, it destroys everything around it. Learn restraint, or risk destroying yourself and everything you love.”

The teacher eventually caved to Aang’s pleading and told him to burn a leaf as he was called away by one of the village men. The airbender was fed up though and when he found he could create fire, he started playing with it. Katara started to approach him, but Aika pulled her back seconds before he lost control of the fire he was playing with. Watching the burst of flame, Katara realised she would have been burnt if Aika hadn’t pulled her back.

When Jeong Jeong appeared to their side, he was not pleased. “You almost burned your friend,” he reprimanded Aang, who looked so guilty that Katara’s heart ached. “Remember, fire brings only destruction and pain. It forces those of us burdened with its care to walk a razor's edge between humanity and savagery. Eventually, we are torn apart.”

“That’s it!” Everyone’s heads whipped towards the voice and found Aika with her wand in her hand and a fierce and furious expression on her face. “If you think I will allow you to constantly belittle and degrade my brother and ruin his self-confidence, you got another thing coming. Fire is not destruction and pain, not that a crabby old man like you would know. Fire is energy, life and light. And I am done with you trying to scare Aang into control.” 

None of the younger teens dared to question her, not even Aang, when she silently commanded them to follow her back to camp, all of them apprehensive of what was going to happen when they got there. She gestured for them to go inside the tent, and knowing that Zhao was nearby, she cast a _fidelius_ charm over the area. She had been practising in their downtime, just in case, it came to this. “Do not leave this tent tonight,” she had said roughly before going to start their dinner. 

If Sokka and Katara thought dinner the previous night was tense, it had nothing on this. Aang was distraught and ashamed of his actions over the past two days. He had been snappish and rude to Aika ever since she had told him something he didn’t want to hear, and that had led to him almost burning Katara. He wanted the earth to open up and swallow him whenever he looked over at Aika, afraid to see the anger and disappointment that he believed would be on her face. Instead, he simply sank further and further into the sofa. 

After the most awkward dinner, they had ever had, and when everything was cleaned and packed away, the older girl spoke, “Aang, I’m not mad at you.”

The change was instantly visible on the younger boy, he sat up straighter and a tiny smile crept onto his face. “Really?”

She nodded. “Really. I am sad that you didn’t believe in yourself and wait to learn firebending like you knew you should have. I am angry that someone up there,” she looked up in the direction of the sky, “decided to foist such a giant burden on your shoulders that you felt you had to do something. I am absolutely furious at how your… teacher,” she spat out the word, “taught you by being condescending and belittling. And I am especially outraged that he burdened you with his fears and would twist your idea of what fire actually is.”

“What do you mean?” Katara whispered, not wanting to incense Aika even more. Aika looked at them all sitting around her on the sofa, curious expressions on their face. Even Sokka, who hated the very idea of fire. “You said that fire was something else before…”

“Fire is energy, life and light, Katara. I don’t really know how to explain it well... How about I tell you the story of how people in my world once believed fire came to be?” They nodded curiously.

“Well, the legend says that many years ago, there lived two brothers and they were like the spirits of your world. These brothers were called Titans, beings who represented something, and there were more of them called Gods. The older Titan brother was named Prometheus. Now, Prometheus was always thinking of the future and making things ready for what might happen tomorrow, or next week, or next year. So while the rest of the Gods were spending their time in idleness, drinking and eating, he was planning how to make the world wiser and better than it had ever been before.

“Instead of living with the rest of them, Prometheus went out amongst mankind to live with them and help them and he noticed that they were not happy. He found them living in caves and in holes of the earth, shivering with the cold because there was no fire, dying of starvation, hunted by wild beasts and by one another—the most miserable of all living creatures. But if they had fire, they could at least warm themselves and cook their food, they could learn to make tools and build themselves houses. Without fire, they were worse off than the beasts. Prometheus went to the King of the Gods and begged him to give fire to the people. The King refused, saying that if men had a fire, they might become strong and wise like Gods, and after a while, they would drive the Gods out of their kingdom. Besides, fire was a dangerous tool and the men were too poor and ignorant to be trusted with it.

“Even though the King said no, Prometheus still had set his heart on helping mankind, and he didn’t give up. Finding an object he could safely store the fire in, he snuck quietly into the King’s domain and stole a spark of fire from the King himself. He hurried back down to his home in the land of men, carrying with him the hidden spark. When he reached home, he called some of the shivering people from their caves and built a fire for them, and showed them how to warm themselves by it, how to use it to cook their food and warn away the beasts that threatened them. Men and women gathered around the fire and were warm and happy, and thankful to Prometheus for the wonderful gift which he had brought to them.”

When Aika finished, Sokka quickly asked, “What happened next?”

“Oh, the King found out what Prometheus had done and sentenced him to be chained to the side of a mountain, where his liver would be eaten by an eagle for all eternity,” she said casually, no hint of the heaviness that had permeated through the room minutes before. Sokka’s jaw dropped and she chuckled.

“So...what you’re saying is that fire is good?” Katara asked.

She shook her head and answered, but looked directly at Aang. “No, what I am saying is that fire is not just destruction. It is energy and life and light and warmth and knowledge and without it, we wouldn’t have much. You do not have to fear it, but respect it.” She cast a small _incendio_ , letting the fire flicker from the end of her wand.

Aang nodded.

Finding the air gliding colonists at the Northern Air Temple had really gotten on Aang’s nerves at first. He fluctuated between annoyed, angry, amazing and frustrated on a minute by minute basis. The fact that the people had desecrated the ways of his culture and ruined the memories of his childhood really hurt him. He was absolutely furious when he found out that the head of the colonists made weapons for the very people who had wiped out his race. 

He became more accepting when they all worked together to get rid of the Fire Nation in a battle. Aika did help in the battle of course, but this time, it was Sokka who saved the day with his War Balloon idea.


	10. The North Pole

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.
> 
> This chapter is a bit longer than the others!

“Guys, I want you to have these.”

Katara, Sokka and Aang gathered around Aika on Appa’s saddle. They knew they were getting near the North Pole now, but still had no idea how to find the Northern Water tribe. 

“What is it?” Sokka asked as he made his way over. In Aika’s hand were three strips of metal. One was thin and dainty, made of silver with intricate swirl patterns that sort of resembled waves. Another was also made of silver, but in a thicker band style, with the symbol of the water tribe carved into it; the last one was made of gold and had a symbol for each of the elements carved into it. They all instinctively knew which one was theirs, but they were confused as to what they were. 

“Ah, metal strips?” Aang queried. “Not that I’m not grateful or anything! But what are they for?”

“Give me your hand.” The boy complied and she took the band. Using magic, she bent the band around his wrist and once the two ends of the metal met, the band flashed white. When the flash disappeared, it looked like one strip of metal bent around his hand with no opening or clasp, so it was impossible to take off. “There. Now no one can take it off except for you or me. I’ve been working really hard on these for the last few weeks.”

“Thanks, Aika!” he beamed happily. He had never received a gift like this before! He held it up really close to his eyes so he could study the patterns. The energy-bender helped the other two with theirs, both extremely pleased with the design. 

She had seen the enchantments in one of her father’s books. She had had to make them and enchant them herself as they were imbued with the maker’s magical essence and therefore the maker could track the wearer’s health and whereabouts, no matter where they were. The process had originally been intended as bracelets for wives so their husbands could track them (she wouldn’t ever tell them that), but she figured with how often these guys got themselves into trouble, being able to find them anywhere and figure out how hurt they were was a good thing. 

They were all extremely excited when they reached the Northern Water Tribe. They were treated to a feast in their honour and Sokka was instantly infatuated with Princess Yue. Things took a bit of a downturn when Katara was refused from learning how to waterbend for battle. Irate at Master Pakku’s rules and the tribe's customs, she stomped over to the healing huts for a few lessons. 

Aika knew that Sokka’s suggestion for Aang to teach Katara how to bend at night would end badly, and not just because she knew what would happen from before, but because her instincts told her. Nevertheless, Katara and Aang didn’t heed her warnings and were discovered by Pakku, who banned Aang from learning.

The next morning, the four met with Chief Arnook, Master Pakku, and Arnook's family members to try and resolve the situation again.

Arnook was confused. “What do you want me to do? Force Master Pakku to take Aang back as his student?”

“Yes... please!” pleaded Katara. It was her fault, she had been the one to force Aang to teach her waterbending.

Arnook frowned for a second. “I suspect he might change his mind if you swallow your pride and apologize to him.”

“Fine.”

“I’m waiting, little girl,” Pakku sneered haughtily.

Katara glared furiously, “No.” Around her, ice began to crack inadvertently. “No way am I apologizing to a sour old man like you!” The two pots nearby shattered. 

“Uhhh ... Katara?” Aang muttered.

“I'll be outside if you're man enough to fight me.”

Princess Yue gasped at the blatant disrespect for the Master. Katara angrily walked out.

“I'm sure she didn't mean that,” Aang tried.

Sokka contradicted, “Yeah, I think she did.”

Aika watched on with a tiny proud smile. Pakku noticed it and decided he would have a go at her too. Big mistake. “Oh and I suppose if she wins, I’ll have to teach you too? It’s not a woman’s place to learn to fight.” Behind her, Sokka was frantically shaking his head at the Master and Aang was trying to signal to him to stop by motioning his fingers back and forth across his neck. The Waterbending master ignored them and scoffed in contempt, looking at her up and down, “I will never teach a woman like you to fight. Too dainty and precious.”

Pulling her wand from her sleeve, Aika simply aimed it at him and flicked it down. The great Master Pakku, the most skilled waterbender in the North, fell on his ass and an invisible force held him there, unable to move from his place on the ice. The girl walked forward so she was directly above him, still pointing that stick at him, “I don’t fight with water, Pakku. You…” she sneered in such disgust that it would have made a Malfoy proud, “have nothing to offer me.” With a twirl of her wand, he was released from the invisible hold and the man felt like he could actually breathe again. 

Aika walked out of the building and down the steps to where Katara was waiting for Master Pakku to fight her. When they followed her outside, Pakku simply kept walking away, not counting Katara as any sort of threat. As he walked, he called out behind him, “Go back to the healing huts with the other women where you belong.” Katara tightened her fist and sent water whips at him. Pakku halted. “Fine. You want to learn to fight so bad? Study closely!” He bended two streams of water from nearby pools and sent them both at a charging Katara, who fell back. He joined the two streams together, encircling both Katara and himself in a forceful ring of water. “Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you!”

Katara edged away from the ring and redirected the water away. The resulting blast hit Sokka, making Aika snicker softly. Pakku built an ice wall in defence, but Katara simply slid up it. She landed on a nearby post. He melted the ice and directed the full blast at her. However, Katara froze her feet down and was able to direct the blast away. Determinedly, she cried, “You can't knock me down!”

Some people from the crowd that had been gathering cheered. “Go, Katara!” Aang encouraged.

Katara charged at him; Pakku drew up a wall of ice, which she quickly liquefied. She attempted to land several blows, but Pakku ducked them all. He whipped water and threw her into a pool, earning the approval of other members of the crowd. She emerged from the pool, shook out her hair, and summoned a small pillar of ice, where she proceeded to send a series of ice discs at her opponent. Pakku broke up most of them using his wrists, one of them very narrowly missing his head. He looked at her in irritation. Katara, now back on the ground, attacked by sending a stream of water at him. However, Pakku merged it into a larger stream of water and sent it full force back at her. Katara was pushed back several feet, bent over and breathing hard from the exertion. She rose suddenly and sent two snow pillars down at him which Pakku turned to a dusty mist of snow. 

“Well, I'm impressed. You _are_ an excellent waterbender,” the master commented.

“But you still won't teach me, will you?”

“No.”

Katara bent over sharply, sending a wave of ice at him, who merely raised himself onto an ice pillar. He proceeded to liquefy the pillar, charging straight at Katara, who sent a powerful stream of water in his direction. Pakku avoided the blast, instead managing to freeze Katara's stream, which he slid across. He surged past her and struck her down, knocking her necklace off in the process. Katara fell roughly to the ground as Pakku landed onto the rim of a pool, bended a tower of water and manipulated the stream overhead his opponent. He deftly froze the water into several ice shards, which he sent down at Katara. She became trapped in the flurry of frozen daggers and appeared still for a moment. The crowd gasped in horror; Aika readied her wand to kill the man. Katara, though, lifted her head and began to struggle, attempting to break free as Pakku casually strolled away. Aika ducked away with the now dispersing crowd, knowing how this would end, with Pakku finally letting Katara join his classes after seeing her necklace.

Unfortunately, even knowing that they had to be here for Aang and Katara to master waterbending, it was boring for Aika most days. Sokka was off trying to impress the princess, so she was left alone most of the time. It was perfect for her to get some more reading and practice done. She needed to hone her skills to prepare for the battle she knew was going to take place in the next few weeks. So every morning, she took her books and headed up to the top of the glacier, where no one really ventured, to practice until mid-afternoon, where she would take the books back down to the room for more quiet reading time.

One night, Katara burst into the room they shared as Aika was reading and Sokka was daydreaming, Aang trailing behind her. “Aika!”

“Yes?”

“Tomorrow, we are going to have some waterbending duels! We’re going to fight all the people in Master Pakku’s classes. Will you come watch us?” Katara exclaimed excitedly.

“Of course I will,” the older girl smiled. “Just don’t get any ideas about challenging me.”

Katara’s eyes widened comically and Sokka laughed, “Ha! Katara wouldn’t stand a chance with all the training in the world!”

Aika whacked him gently over the head with the book. “Be nice to your sister. But you’re not wrong.”

“I wasn’t going to!” Katara insisted. She frowned thoughtfully and pinched her chin, “But I think Master Pakku might. He’s the one who asked us to invite you to training tomorrow.”

Tilting her head, Aika questioned, “He asked for me?”

“Yeah. Do you have any idea why?”

“It might have something to do with how Aika knocked him on his ass just before your fight with him,” Sokka mentioned.

“Oh, right! He might be going to challenge her to a match,” Aang chipped in. “Either way, a waterbender doesn’t stand a chance against an energy-bender. No one really does, except maybe me. When I’m fully trained.”

Of course, the next morning, Katara wiped the floor with all the Northern Tribe waterbending students, and Aang, being his usual goofy self, sat playing with Momo and then made himself into a snowman. Aika had the urge to facepalm. Pakku and Katara didn’t look all that impressed either. 

Master Pakku called, “Miss Aika from the Southern Tribe.”

She stood up from on the steps, where she had been watching them training. “Yes, Pakku?”

“I, Master Pakku, challenge you to a duel!”

Katara jumped in, “Master, are you sure? She’s… not a waterbender.”

“I know that, pupil Katara. Nevertheless, I have issued the challenge.” To Aika, he asked, “Do you accept?” She nodded once. “Pupil Sangok, inform the chief. We shall need him to referee.”

Of course, as soon as the Chief was informed, every man, woman and child turned up at the training arena to watch the match. The chief arrived, pushing through the crowd and immediately tried to get a hold of the situation. “Master Pakku, you issued the challenge? And you Aika accepted?” They both acknowledged that had. “Then let us begin. The rules are as follows: No harsh maiming, and nothing done that cannot be reversed.” He stepped back, “Begin.”

Now, Aika could have ended it then and there with a simple _petrificus totalus_. No movement, no bending. Sokka, Katara and Aang all knew that she could do this. They had seen her do it before on their enemies. They were expecting it actually. So when she simply stood there with her wand out, arms crossed and tapping her foot, they were very confused.

“Well, Pakku. You gonna start, or…” she trailed off. “You know, we can call this off, no harm done. Except to your reputation that is. Or are you scared to be beaten by a woman?” That obviously irritated the old master enough that he bended a torrent of water directly at her. She simply swatted it away like an annoying fly-beetle. In fact, no matter what the man launched or attacked her with, water, ice, spikes, discs, she simply batted it all away. After ten minutes of this, she taunted, “You gonna land anything? Because I’m pretty sure I haven’t got one drop of water on me.” 

It was true, she was bone dry. Nothing had hit her at all. Aang started to step into the ring to end it, not wanting this to go too far, but the Chief stopped him, “No, Avatar. The challenge must be satisfied.”

Aika overheard this and smirked, “Well, Chief, this isn’t much of a challenge, so I’ll tell you what. I’ll consider the challenge satisfied if Master Pakku apologises for his deplorable behaviour towards myself, my younger sister Katara and all other women. Because despite what he thinks, women are not weak, are not cowards, and they most certainly can learn how to defend themselves, their families and their home, if not fight on the front lines.”

All eyes travelled to the Master, who was glaring at her furiously. “I have nothing to apologise for.”

She smiled viciously, “Then neither do I. Impedimenta! Levicorpus!”  
Stunned and levitating upside down by his ankle, Pakku couldn’t do much to retaliate and after he hung there for a few minutes, Chief Arnook called, “Victory, Aika!” She kept Pakku hanging. “Ah, Aika, you can put him down now... Aika?”

Soot fell over the city and the Northern Water Tribe prepared for battle. Arnook called all the warriors to arms and Sokka volunteered for a mission infiltrating the ships of the Fire Navy. She knew Zhao would be leading this mission and that Zuko would soon appear, but also she knew this event was too defining for her to change in any major way. But maybe, she could save one person, she thought, as she looked at Princess Yue. One was a good start. What was most surprising was when Master Pakku, the man she had just humiliated, rose from his place and said, “Perhaps… We could use Miss Aika’s help on the front lines?”

The Chief nodded, “Yes, we most certainly could. Miss Aika, would you be willing to help?”

She glanced briefly at Katara and Aang, both of them begging with their eyes for her to help them. “Sure. I can help.”

Which led to her being stationed on the main wall of the city, watching in horrified captivation as the Fire Navy ships filled the ocean before her. She was wearing a Water Tribe blue battle outfit, which she had transfigured into something more manoeuvrable, forgoing heavy coats and gloves in favour of strong warming charms. She had her auburn hair tied in a half-up half-down intricate warrior style braid, ensuring that it was out of the way, yet proudly showing that she was female. She also made the outfit more feminine, wanting to make the point clear to this tribe that women were just as capable as men. With her main wand in her hand and a backup in her boot, she was ready.

Soon enough, the first fireball was catapulted by the front ships. Aika banished it back to the Fire Navy. Aang gazed at his big sister’s back as she sent fireball after fireball away from the Water Tribe city. But even she couldn’t catch every fireball. As the Fire Nation realised what was happening, they started catapulting three fireballs at the same time. Aika managed to deflect two, but the third one crashed into the wall below her. He saw her stumble as the impact shook the wall, but she righted herself quickly. He ran to Appa, “Yip-yip!”

A second fireball managed to get past Aika, crashing into and crumbling a bridge in the city. And then another into the front wall again. Appa soared over the wall and Aang locked eyes with Aika for a brief moment, before he guided the bison to one of the big ships. Aang ransacked and destroyed as many of the trebuchet launchers as he could, sabotaging ships and joining the water tribe men who had sailed out to meet the Fire Navy in defence of their home.

As twilight fell and the moon rose, the Fire Navy halted its assault. Aika turned to Pakku, and even though she didn’t like the man, she wouldn’t let the city fall. “Pakku, I advise you to get your benders to repair as much of this wall as they can, while they are at their strongest. Every repair is a little bit more work for the Fire Nation tomorrow.” He nodded and turned to order the men to do just that. Aika saw Appa flying back with Aang and ran to meet them in the centre of the city. She was greeted by cheers from grateful Northerners; she thanked them briefly before continuing on. 

She spotted Aang sitting by Appa’s feet exhausted, the princess and Katara standing over him. “But you have to. You’re the Avatar,” Yue pleaded.

Running to his side, and immediately kneeling next to the airbender, Aika snapped, “Aang doesn’t have to do anything. He is exhausted and in no condition to fight the entire Northern Fleet with only air and water mastered. He’s still a kid, no matter how powerful he will grow to be.” Out of her bag, she fed Aang half a dose of pepper-up potion, which instantly kicked in and sleep no longer threatened to take him over. He looked at Aika and noticed that she looked strained as well. Momo decided that that would be a good time to jump onto Aang, so he didn’t get to comment.

Yue looked down, slightly ashamed of her demand, “I apologise.” They stood in silence for a few minutes, staring out over the wall to where they could see the Fire Navy ships, the night eerily quiet. “The legends say the moon was the first waterbender.” They all glanced up at the moon as she spoke. “Our ancestors saw how it pushed and pulled the tides and learned how to do it themselves.”

“I've always noticed my waterbending is stronger at night,” Katara confirmed.

“Our strength comes from the spirit of the moon. Our life comes from the spirit of the ocean. They work together to keep balance.”

Aang, who at this point had been leaning on the balcony with his head in his hands and the lemur on his head, brightened at her words. “The spirits!” He raised his head, startling Momo. Maybe I can find them and get their help!”

“How can you do that?” Yue queried.

Katara approached her and expounded, “The Avatar is the bridge between our world and the Spirit World! Aang can talk to them!”

“Maybe they'll give you the wisdom to win this battle!” cried the princess.

“Or maybe they'll unleash a crazy amazing spirit attack on the Fire Nation!” The three girls looked at him oddly; Aang looked at them and straightened up. “Or wisdom. That's good, too.”

Ever the voice of reason, Aika mentioned, “The only problem is, last time you got to the Spirit World by accident. How are you going to get there this time?” 

“I have an idea. Follow me.” The princess began walking away. The other three shrugged at each other and followed. They were led inside the chief's Royal Palace, to a small, round wooden door. “This is the most spiritual place in the entire North Pole.” She pushed open the door to reveal a small lush oasis with a waterfall flowing behind it. 

Aang gasped in delight. “I never thought I’d miss grass so much!” He ran to the back of the oasis and began rolling around on the ground. Aika chuckled at his antics. 

“It’s so warm here,” Katara said, shedding her coat.

Yue followed suit and explained, “It’s the centre of all spiritual energy in our land.” Aika dispelled her warming charms with a touch of her wand. Momo saw the two koi fish in the pond and tried to grab at them, but Aika grabbed him and sat him on her shoulder. 

“You're right, Yue. I can feel... something. It's so tranquil,” Aang said as he positioned himself to meditate. It took him a while, especially considering Yue and Katara kept talking. When Aang snapped at them, Aika cast a _silencio_ on each of them in irritation. When he made it into the Spirit World, his tattoos glowing and eyes closed, Aika took the charm off the two girls.

Katara walked over to her sister, “Aika, I’ve got this. You should be back out there helping the Tribe prepare for the morning.”

Aika frowned, “Katara…”

“No really, I got this. Go.”

Torn between what she knew would happen if she left and what she felt should happen, she reluctantly nodded, sparing a brief glance at Aang. “Alright. I’ll be back in a bit.” And she left. 

She found Pakku and the Chief who were making more plans and they asked her to stay in the city this time to help protect the citizens. She agreed, only for Sokka to barge into the room with the princess in tow. “Zuko is here. In the oasis. Fighting Katara,” he panted as if he had been running a marathon. 

Aika glanced out to the east, where the sun was just starting to peak over the horizon. “It’s daybreak. She’s not going to be able to hold him off any longer.” She didn’t bother to tell the chief she was going, he knew that she would go help her family. But by the time Sokka, Yue and Aika got there on Appa, it was too late. Katara was lying on the ground, out cold and Aang was nowhere to be seen. “ _Rennervate_.” 

Katara gasped for air as she quickly regained consciousness and sat up. “Aang!”

“What happened? Where’s Zuko?” Sokka asked.

Katara looked down, distraught. “He took Aang. He took him right out from under me.”

Aika pulled the girl up from the ground, “I’ll find him, don’t worry.”

“How?” Sokka was just as distraught over Aang being gone as Katara. Without a word, Aika glanced at the silver bracelet she had given him, which was gleaming in the sunlight and hopped up onto Appa. “What’s wrong with my band?” he asked, confused, poking it with his other hand.

Aika chuckled slyly, “Let’s just say that I can always find myself.” She turned to the waterbender. “Katara, do me a favour. I want you to freeze every single entrance and exit into this oasis. Make it a fortress for you, Sokka and the Princess. Please, trust me on this,” she implored. Katara looked at her carefully, saw the sincerity and worry in her expression, and nodded. “Appa, yip-yip!” Aika cried. The bison took off, Aika guiding him in the direction that her magic was pulling her in.

Aang came back into his physical body, at once noticing that he was tied up, and with Prince Zuko. Avatar Roku’s words of warning were still ringing in his ears. “Welcome back,” the prince said.

In a few quick moments, Aang realised a few things. Firstly, Zuko no longer had that scar over his left eye. He could see that there was still tightness in the skin and his eye hadn't fully opened but the red was gone. Secondly, it had been Aika who had healed him after the Blue Spirit fiasco a while back. He had seen that she had put some sort of liquid over his eye, but hadn’t thought much of it at the time. Thirdly, he was in a cave and could see a blizzard going on outside.

Aang’s eyes narrowed, “It’s good to be back.” He airbended Zuko into a wall and propelled himself backwards out of the cave and into the blizzard.

Aang wriggled himself like a worm in an attempt to get away, only to be caught again by Zuko, who picked him up by his collar. “That won't be enough to escape.”

A growl from above them signalled the bison’s arrival, “Appa!” Aika slides off the beast and notices that Zuko had a hold of Aang.

Stupidly, Zuko tossed the Avatar to the side, causing him to yelp, and assumed a firebending stance, “Here for a rematch?” he shouted.

“Darling, it’s not gonna be much of a match.” She stunned him quickly to avoid hassle and summoned her little brother to her, then levitated him onto the bison. “ _Diffindo,_ ” she cast to cut the ropes off him, and then hit him with a few warming charms since they were stuck in the middle of a fucking blizzard. Just as she was about to climb on herself, she looked back at the fallen prince. She knew he would die if she left him, so she levitated him onto Appa too, still stunned. Climbing on, she yelled, “Appa, yip-yip!”

“Why did you do that?” Aang asked, looking back at where Zuko was lying, out cold.

She cast a warming charm on the prince as well, “We couldn’t leave him there to die.”

Remembering Avatar Roku’s final warning before he had left the spirit world, he dismissed it. There was no way Aika could turn evil if she could save an enemy and heal his scars.

Getting back to the oasis was easy, but they immediately saw the destruction that had been wrought on the Water Tribe city. Waterbenders tried to fight off the firebenders as they moved throughout it, destroying as much as they could. Aang looked down at it all sadly, but Aika kept her gaze straight ahead and steely look on her face as if she could block out the sounds of war beneath her. They finally made it back to Sokka and Katara, only to see Zhao break through Katara’s last ice barrier. Aang jumped off Appa, immediately going to protect the koi fish pond. Aika did the same, conjuring a shield around the pond so Zhao couldn’t attack it. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Katara and Sokka standing defensively in front of Yue, who had no fighting experience whatsoever. They looked mostly okay, Katara was a little worse for wear from her earlier fight with Zuko and trying to maintain the ice walls to keep Zhao out of here. In her momentary distraction, looking over her siblings, she failed to notice movement behind her. 

What alerted her was Zhao’s almost indiscriminate nod. But it was too late to do anything.

Before she could raise a shield around herself, she was blasted from behind by fire. She had made her clothes impervious to fire, but it still knocked her down to the ground, dropping her wand into the pool with the koi. With her down and her wand gone, the shield around the pond fell and Aang, her adorable little brother, was also distracted, “Aika!” He moved to help her but was stopped by multiple Fire Nation soldiers who roughly dragged her up and in between them, a sword to her neck. All her siblings looked horrified.

“Ah, darling Aika,” Zhao muttered as if he were tasting her name. She sneered, disgusted. “Such a beautiful name, for such a beautiful woman.”

“Let her go!” Aang demanded, brandishing his glider towards the Admiral like it was a sword.

Zhao chuckled evilly. “Not going to happen, Avatar. She is part of my destiny. If you move, I will kill her, however.” Keeping one eye on the Avatar, who didn’t move in fear of Aika being killed, Zhao quickly captured the white koi from the bag and held up the bag in pride. “I am ... a legend, now!” Zhao raised his hand, grasping the bag with Tui in it, up high for all to see. 

‘ _Oh great, an evil monologue_ ’, Aika thought to herself. Why do evil guys insist on monologuing? Voldemort had been a fan of it as well at the Battle of Hogwarts.

The Admiral continued, “The Fire Nation will, for generations, tell stories about the great Zhao, who darkened the moon. They will call me, Zhao the Conqueror, Zhao the Moon-Slayer, Zhao the Invincible!” Momo, the cute little lemur, jumped on top of Zhao's head. “Ugh ... Get it off! Get it off!” While Momo caused a little bit of distraction, enough for Aang, Katara and Sokka to ready themselves for a battle, it did no good. “Don’t bother, little Avatar. I have the Moon Spirit, and I have the beautiful Aika.” He raised his hand, filled with fire, to threaten the Moon spirit.

Aang shouted, “Zhao, don’t!”

“It's my destiny, to destroy the moon and the Water Tribe and to take Aika for my own.”

“Destroying the moon won't hurt just the Water Tribe. It will hurt everyone, including you. Without the moon, everything would fall out of balance. You have no idea what kind of chaos that would unleash on the world!” Aang pleaded. Not that it would do much good, you couldn’t reason with a crazy person.

“He is right Zhao.” Iroh, Zuko’s Uncle, stepped out of the shadows, pulling his hood down to reveal his face.

“General Iroh, why am I not surprised to discover your treachery?” Zhao smiled contemptuously. 

“I'm no traitor, Zhao, the Fire Nation needs the moon, too; we all depend on the balance. Whatever you do to that spirit I'll unleash on you ten-fold. Let it go, now!” The Dragon of the West assumed a fighting position against the Admiral.

Weighing up his options, Zhao looked between the General and the fish, and he released the koi fish into the oasis pond. However, his crazy won out; he hesitated for a few moments, but then directed a fire blast against the fish out of anger. Everything was still until the bright full moon above them faded out and the world around them went grey. Zhao stared up at the sky in awe at what he had done, until Iroh began firebending at him. Zhao dodged the blows and countered his firebending while retreating toward his soldiers, motioning for them to cover, as the soldiers holding Aika were ordered silently to follow him. Trying to dig her heels into the ground was no use, all her one-twenty pounds was nothing on the over six-foot burly firebenders. If only she could get to her spare wand in her boot… 

Watching his honorary sister being marched out by firebenders broke something in the young Avatar. Having been captured with her by Zhao before, he knew that he was taking her to a fate worse than death. Looking down at the pond, seeing the Ocean Spirit koi circling the dead Moon Spirit, he knew what he had to do. Eyes and tattoo glowed, he stepped into the pond, “This isn’t over.” 

Zhao and the soldiers holding Aika were fleeing back towards the Navy when an eerie blue glow was cast over them. Turning, they looked up to see an energy move throughout the city and back up towards the oasis, and a humongous fish-like creature emerged from the top. Aika could just make out the small form of the Avatar in the centre of the creature, controlling it. It started laying waste to the Fire Nation soldiers occupying the Water Tribe city, the waterbenders kneeling before the Spirit. Zhao looked up in terror and quickly started moving again to escape, Aika’s captors following and dragging her with them. 

However, they were intercepted by Prince Zuko. “You're alive?” Zhao asked in surprise.

Angrily, Zuko yelled, “You tried to have me killed!”

Zhao's smile was malevolent. “Yes I did.” As Zuko attacked the Admiral, the giant energy creature made its way toward the ocean. “You're the Blue Spirit, an enemy of the Fire Nation! You freed the Avatar.”

“I had no choice.” Zuko continued his attacks, but they were deftly blocked by Zhao.

“You should have chosen to accept your failure; you're a disgrace. Then, at least, you could have lived!” 

Sensing distraction in her captors at the fight between their banished prince and their Admiral, Aika dug within herself to feel her magic. No, not magic anymore, energy. She was an energy-bender and as long as she had energy, she could make it move to her will. She balled it up inside of her and released it. The resulting blast of energy freed her from the soldiers as they were propelled back violently and fell over the edge of the railing, into the water below. 

Grabbing her wand from her boot, she joined the melee between Zuko and Zhao, getting a few hits in herself, but mostly taking out any soldiers around them who looked like they wanted to join in. Being the evil shit he was, Zhao could help but start his speech again in the middle of the battle. “Ah, little Aika. So beautiful and powerful. You will be mine!”

Aika growled, “Never!” Another Fire Nation soldier decided that it would be a good time to swing at her with his sword. She dodged, quickly disarmed him with an _expelliarmus_ and stopped him with a _locomotor mortis_.

“Oh yes, you will. After I kill this stupid disgrace here,” he ducked a blast from Zuko and returned with a blast of his own, knocking Zuko down for a second. The crazy Admiral faced her. “I will kill your Water Tribe friends. I will keep the Avatar alive, barely, so he is not reincarnated into the next cycle. His torture will ensure your compliance. Then I will take you back to the Fire Nation, where you will be my wife and forced to submit to me and bear my heirs. With your power, combined with mine, they will be the most powerful in all the Fire Nation and my legacy will be complete!” He took up a fighting stance. “But first, I will need to break you.”

Aika shook with rage and hatred for the monster in front of her. The energy that she kept wrapped up inside her, that she kept a tight lid on rose up to meet her wand. Without noticing really, a familiar, destructive, sickly beam of red light erupted from the wood with her scream, “ _Crucio!_ ”

Zuko stared in horror from where he had fallen. In the back of his mind, he noticed that the world was no longer grey and that the moon once again shone in the sky. In front of him, however, the cursed Admiral screamed bloody murder and writhed painfully under a beam of crimson light. Hearing footsteps, he wanted to see who was coming up behind him, but couldn’t move his gaze from the scene in front of him. 

Katara and Sokka, who had been running to try and find Aika, had the same expression as Zuko. Aang, who had defeated the Fire Nation Navy, was released by the Ocean Spirit on the front wall of the city. He turned when he heard the screams and locked onto his sister driving the Fire Nation leader to insanity. Where before the twelve-year-old could have stood up from the top of the highest mountain and proclaimed to the world that his sister was good and would never hurt anyone, seeing this, the pain she could bring, he wasn’t so sure anymore. “Aika!” he shouted. “Stop!” He started airbending his way over to them.

The haze of the dark spell clouded her mind. She finally understood why the Death Eaters laughed and cackled and grinned in glee as they had tortured the students at Hogwarts. The feelings of absolute delight and pleasure at causing another so much pain made her want to cackle too. She heard her brother faintly, she wanted to stop this, she really did, but it _just felt so good_. Zuko, closer to Aika than anyone else, moved next to her and cautiously placed his hand on her arm and pushed it down, cutting off her curse. With the spell stopped, the dark magic haze broke and she dropped the wand instantly as if it had burned her. Zhao’s screams turned into blubbering whines and sobs as shakes and spasms wracked his body from the damage to his nerves.

Faintly, still in shock, Sokka asked, “What was that?”

Without emotion and without turning away from the whimpering Zhao, she replied, "The torture curse. It sets your nerves on fire and feels like a thousand hot knives stabbing every inch of your body at the same time." She looked down at the pathetic Admiral, "I told you, you would lose."  
Calmly, she picked up her wand, stowed it in her boot and walked away.

It was Zuko who came to her at the top of the glacier. In the resulting chaos and celebration that the Water Tribe had won the battle, he had been able to slip away without being captured. He had overheard the Avatar telling everyone else to give Aika space, and that she was at the top of the glacier and she would come down when she was ready. Despite that and despite knowing that he needed to leave quickly, he needed to see her. He found her sitting down, knees against her chest, wrapped in a ball as she gazed out at the sunrise. Regardless of what he had seen her do, she was still beautiful. 

He didn’t realise she knew he was there until she spoke, "I told myself I would never cast that curse. I wouldn't stoop that low. But… He threatened my family… And he threatened you." That surprised him as nothing else could have. Why would she care about him? She stood and turned to him, giving him a small sad smile. Pulling a small bottle from her pocket, she reached out to hand it to him. "Put this on your scar every night for three nights. It will heal your skin as if you were never burned." 

She turned around to go back to the stairs leading back down into the city, but Zuko grabbed her by the arm and pulled her against him, capturing her in a deep kiss. It only lasted a few seconds but it was fiery and passionate. They both pulled away suddenly and forcefully as if burned. Her surprise was written all over her face, but as she gazed into his eyes, she realised what he was trying to convey and her expression softened. With another small sad smile, she reached up to touch the side of his face softly, where his scar used to be and left without another word.


	11. States of Being

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.

To say things were a bit tense for the next few days would have been an understatement. The clean up of the city had brought the group of four a welcome distraction from the looming conversation that they knew needed to take place. Aika was not proud of it at all, but she had definitely been avoiding the other three, ashamed of how far she had fallen in that battle. Oh, she knew she would do everything in her power to keep her little makeshift family safe, but she shouldn’t have ventured into dark magic. Even now, the few dark magic books that her father had had in his library called to her, whispered for her to open them and dive into their depths. It would take a while before the lure would fade away.

She had retrieved her first wand from the oasis, and having been so long in a pool with two spirits, her energy felt stronger when she cast through it. It had taken her a few hours to re-regulate the amount of power she used to cast spells, but quickly got the hang of it once she had run through her old duelling exercises for regulating magic. The second wand, however, was now tainted with the dark spell she had cast and she had hidden it deep within the confines of her bag with the dark books. She had her third wand, thank Merlin, which she now kept in her boot at all times, no longer trusting having just one on her person anymore.

Even with her avoidance, the three others didn’t look at her in fear, disgust or rejection when she did see them around the city. She knew that they would be fine, that she just needed to talk to them but she wasn’t ready. Not yet. 

Master Pakku had decided that he wanted to take some benders down to the South Pole to reunite with Kanna and help start to rebuild the Southern Tribe, and so he gave them a start to their journey on his ship. With Katara having mastered waterbending, she was now in a good position to continue to teach Aang while travelling, so they packed up their things and loaded them all onto Appa. 

Before they left, the old master held up a flask, “Katara, I want you to have this. This amulet contains water from the Spirit Oasis. The water has unique properties. Don't lose it.”

She accepted the gift and hugged her waterbending instructor. “Thank you, Master Pakku.”

He turned to the Avatar, holding a box, and said, “Aang, these scrolls will help you master waterbending. But remember, they're no substitute for a real master.” Aang looked up at Katara, who was sitting on Appa with Aika and nodded, heading over to them. “Sokka…” Pakku patted him on the shoulder, leaving him dismayed, “take care, son.” He didn’t bother saying anything to Aika. Even though they had fought together in a great battle, they still didn’t like each other. “Fly straight to the Earth Kingdom base to the east of here. General Fong will provide you with an escort to Omashu. There, you will be safe to begin your earthbending training with King Bumi.”

“Appa, yip-yip!” commanded the airbender.

As they flew away, Katara yelled, “Say hi to Gran-Gran for me!”

A few hours later, the group landed at General Fong’s Earth Kingdom stronghold. A welcoming party had assembled for their arrival. A man, with more elaborate green armour than the rest, stood in front of the soldiers. “Welcome, Avatar Aang!” The group jumped out of Appa’s saddle and began to stretch out after having been sitting for so long. “I am General Fong, and welcome to all of you, great heroes! Appa, Momo, brave Sokka, the mighty Katara-”

“Mighty Katara?” the girl whispered, pleased. “I like that.”

“-and of course, the powerful Aika.”

“Hell,” she muttered under her breath. She was getting a reputation. She didn't really want that.

No one seemed to notice her displeasure at the title, as fireworks were set off and the soldiers around them cheered. “Not bad, not bad,” Sokka appreciated, watching the display.

“Avatar Aang, we were all amazed at the stories of how you single-handedly wiped out an entire Fire Navy fleet at the North Pole.” Fong stroked his beard. “I can't imagine what it feels like to wield such devastating power. It's an awesome responsibility.”

Casually, Aang responded, “I try not to think about it too much.”

“Avatar, you're ready to face the Fire Lord now.”

“What? No I'm not!” Aang blurted. Aika tensed slightly and crossed her arms casually, gripping her wand inside her sleeve where no one could see.

“Aang still needs to master all four elements,” Katara reasoned.

Fong scoffed, “Why? With the kind of power he possesses, power enough to destroy hundreds of battleships in a matter of minutes, he could defeat the Fire Lord now!”

“But sir, the thing is, Aang can only do those things when he's in the Avatar State,” Sokka said.

“See, it's this special state where-” Aang started to explain.

The general interrupted sharply, “I'm well aware! Your eyes and tattoos glow and you're able to summon unbelievable power. Without you, we'd be slaughtered before we even reach their shores. But with you leading the way, as the ultimate weapon, we could cut a swath right through to the heart of the Fire Nation!”

Aang spoke, doubt lining his voice, “Right, but, I don't know how to get in or out of the Avatar State, much less what to do once I'm there.”

“So, it's decided then. I'll help you figure out how to get into the Avatar State and then you'll face your destiny,” Fong said assuredly. 

Katara wasn’t having a bar of this nonsense, “No, nothing's decided. We already have a plan. Aang's pursuing his destiny his way.”

“Well, while you take your time learning the elements, the War goes on. May I show you something?” Fong made to grab Aang’s shoulder, but Aika stepped up behind the Avatar, daring him to touch the boy. The general flinched, having heard the stories from the Water Tribe battle and what the girl had done to the Fire Nation Admiral Zhao. Instead, he gestured to one of the nearby windows. “Out there, that's the infirmary, and those soldiers are the lucky ones.” The group walked over and looked down to see several soldiers lying injured or walking very slowly. “They came back. Every day, the Fire Nation takes lives. People are dying, Aang! You could end it, now. Think about it.”

The group were taken to a room in the base to rest for the night. Knowing that they couldn’t continue one like this, and what was going to happen tomorrow morning, once they were all left alone, Aika said softly, “I think it’s time we talked.” The reactions of the other three were immediate. It was the first time Aika had said a word to any of them since the battle. They all sat down in front of her and gazed at her attentively. She sat down as well. Taking a deep breath and sighing it out, she whispered, “I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?” Sokka asked gently, understanding that this was difficult for her.

She looked down in shame, “I’m sorry that you had to see me like that. I’m sorry that I gave into the energy that I said I never would, I’m really ashamed of that. I’m sorry that I’ve avoided you guys for this long.”

“Aika,” Sokka started, “what was it? I know you told us what the red light was, but that’s not all was it?” _He is very perceptive when he wants to be_ , she thought.

But it was Aang who responded to Sokka, “It was evil.”

Having been raised the way she was, surrounded by so many different branches of magic, exploring different countries and cultures with her parents in the name of knowledge and participating in the international duelling circuit, she knew the world was not as black and white as Aang made it out to be; as Wizarding Britain had made it out to be. She sighed and looked at the Avatar, who was glaring at her slightly, daring her to deny it. “Yes… and no.”

“Explain,” Katara demanded, placing her hand on Aang’s before he could shout at her.

“My world… Where I come from… Magic, energy, is defined as Light, Neutral and Dark. I touched a bit on this when I was telling you about the war that I fought in.” They nodded in confirmation. “You see, Light magic is fueled by positive emotion, like this, _expecto patronum._ ”

A beautiful white light exploded from Aika’s wand, shaping itself into a tiger. With such positive feelings of happiness and joy emanating from the tiger as it pranced around the room, not even Aang could hold onto his sliver of anger anymore. Aika had been practising her Patronus over and over again, trying to assure herself that she was not going to fall any further than she had. True dark practitioners couldn’t cast the charm because they didn’t have enough positive emotion to fuel it. 

She let the charm fade and continued, “Neutral magic, obviously doesn’t need too much emotion at all. Dark magic feeds off negative emotions, pain, anger, hatred, the need to control. I cast one of the darkest curses we have. It needs anger and the genuine desire to cause pain to work.” She looked into each of their eyes, expecting to see the disgust, but none of them showed it, only fear and slight horror. “Zhao threatened to kill Katara and Sokka but to keep you just barely alive, Aang. To torture you, so that I would be obedient and compliant.” She looked dead at him. “I couldn’t allow it.”

Aang’s eyes blew wide. “You… You did it… for me? For us?”

She whispered, “There isn’t much I wouldn’t do for you.” She looked away from them. “I lost my first family to a war. I won’t lose my second one.”

Katara, Sokka and Aang had never seen Aika be anything other than strong, a steady rock that they could all lean on, always present, always ready. But Katara had to ask, “How did you know what the curse felt like?”

The older girl shrugged, “I’ve been placed under it before…”

“How many times?” Sokka queried, almost afraid to know.

“Four.” She knew that number so very very well. “My blood status meant that if I got detention at school, I would be placed under the curse. To learn my place,” she spat.

Sokka suddenly realised why she had taken such offense when Master Pakku had told her what ‘her place’ was. It wasn't for the same reasons, but both reasons had been something beyond her control, one, the parents she had been born to and the second for her gender, neither of which should be a deciding factor to her station in life or should dictate what she could and couldn’t do.

“I’m not sorry that I defended you guys. I am sorry that I fell into something so corrosive and horrible. But I will tell you now, that I will do it again if it is a choice between any of you living or dying.” She knew she had to tell them what was going on or they wouldn’t know to look out for it. “The other thing that’s evil about Dark magic, is that using it is like a drug. When you cast it, while you are causing pain and suffering, you feel exhilaration and elation and pleasure and you can get a significant high from it. Most wizards and witches cannot resist that call.”

“How are you resisting then?” Aang interrogated hotly. Maybe Avatar Roku was right...

“You guys give me a good reason to resist. And, I’ve locked away the dark magic books and the wand that I used so the pull is... less. They will stop calling me again in a few days. Casting charms like the one I did before helps too since it is Light magic.”

Determinedly, Katara asked, “How can we help you stay away from it?”

Aika smiled at the girl softly, tears falling down her cheeks now. “You already are, Katara, just by being there and being you. All of you are.” The younger girl grinned and launched herself at her older sister in a tackle hug. She had her sister back. Aang did the same and Sokka came up behind her and then Aika was in the middle of a Team Avatar group hug. 

“Aika,” Aang started, “we are going to do everything we can to keep you away from that stuff.”

“Yeah!” Sokka confirmed. “But I mean, if there is some of that Neutral stuff that can cause a bit of harm to the Fire Nation, we wouldn’t object to that…”

Katara elbowed her brother in the gut. “Sokka!” she admonished.

Aika laughed, wiping away her tears. “Sokka, I already do those. I usually stay within the neutral space, maybe more to the Neutral-Dark for some curses and hexes. But there aren’t too many Light spells you can use in battle, unfortunately.”

Upon hearing that, Sokka frowned, realising something. “Wait, you’ve been saying ‘dark magic’ and ‘light magic’, does that mean there is something more than that?”

Aika nodded, seeing no reason to keep it from them considering she didn’t know either and had no books on the subjects. “Yes, there is Black Magic and White Magic.”

It was an interesting subject for the non-bender. “What are they?”

“Black magic is considered the source of true evil. The spell I cast doesn’t really come close I believe. Black magic deals with necromancy, which is the ability to raise and control the dead and create what we call Inferi, zombies. Blood magic, which is the control and manipulation of someone by using their blood and some other rituals fall under this category too. And Soul magic, which is the most obscure form. The evil guy in my war, Lord Voldemort, used the first one constantly, dabbled in Blood magic to raise himself back from the dead, and used Soul magic to keep his soul tethered to the physical world even when his first body was destroyed. That is pure evil.” 

While she hadn’t been in the Dark Lord’s presence for more than a few moments, she had felt the vile taint of Black magic on him and his snake Nagini, one she had only ever felt before when visiting a Curse-Breaking exhibition in Egypt when she was ten. Her father had told her what it was and she had vowed never to even go looking for the ritual to make one. It was foul magic, something that had haunted her dreams for a few months after the trip.

Well, didn’t that just creep them all out. Why did he even ask? “White magic?” Sokka cursed inwardly at his stupid mouth.

That threw her for a second. “Um… Some healing rituals I suppose, maybe the original spell that the charm I cast before is derived from? Most of the knowledge of White magic has been lost over time. Not many people can cast it, because… Well… You have to be pure to do so, of mind, body and soul. So only children or devout virgins could do it. And considering that most witches and wizards were mothers and fathers, or they participated in pagan rituals… You guys are way too young to know about those… The ability to learn White magic couldn't really be passed on.”

“That’s sad,” Katara muttered. Aang nodded in agreement. 

Aika shrugged, “It’s the way it is.” They fell into a comfortable silence, all thinking, mulling over what had been revealed. Any tension or leftover hurt had faded, even to the point where they all started to quietly do their ‘down-time’ thing; Sokka began whittling away with his knife and a piece of wood; Aang was studying the waterbending scrolls Pakku had given him; and Aika was braiding Katara’s hair; both of them had missed their ‘sister’ time. 

Aang uttered nervously, “Aika, I think I need some advice.”

“Yes, Aang?” she asked kindly, hands moving absently in Katara’s long brown hair. 

“What do you think I should do about the Avatar State?”

Sokka looked up from his whittling, Katara glanced back at her sister quickly, but Aika gently moved her head back so the braid wouldn’t ruin. Finishing off the braid and tying it off, Aika moved from behind Katara to sit in front of the airbender. “I think… I think you should learn your four elements. The Avatar State is powerful, Aang, don’t get me wrong. But I think I’m in a better position than most to understand that just because we have power, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t learn the skills necessary for us to use it to its fullest potential.”

The airbender looked down, forlorn. He had really wanted to help General Fong.

“Aang, what does the Avatar State really do?” she asked suddenly.

He looked up, confused, “Huh?”

“General Fong thinks that the Avatar State is only one of power, and it is that, but what are you actually doing in that state? The first few days I met you, I saw you create a giant whirlpool that carried you out from drowning, without knowing a single waterbending technique. So what does the Avatar State really do?”

The Avatar in question was even more confused now. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Do you want to know my theory?” It wasn’t really a theory, considering she knew the damn future. She so easily fell into ‘being here’ that she regularly forgot that she knew how this would all end. “Theoretically, each time you are reincarnated, you have access to all wisdom and knowledge from the past, right? You enter the Avatar State and you connect with every life where you had already mastered the elements, so your instincts kick in. But without having done so in this life, your instincts can only get you so far. You would be vulnerable and no one knows what would happen if you die in the Avatar State.”

That sobered up the kid. “So to truly master the Avatar State, I would have to master the elements?”

“It’s definitely a part of it. The other part… Well… I’m sure you’ll have a specific teacher for that. It’s not something I can teach or even know too much about. Elemental bending and my energy-bending are too different for me to teach you anything.”

Katara nodded, “Aika’s theory makes sense Aang. When we were in Roku’s temple on that island, you entered the Avatar state and connected to Roku. Then he controlled the fire that allowed our escape.”

“So, Fong’s suggestion is a no-go?”

“That’s my advice, Aang. It’s a no-go.”

Needless to say that General Fong did not take Aang’s decision well. “That is very disappointing, Avatar Aang. Every death from now on may very well be on your head.”

Aika had taken great offence to that. Wand out, she got right up in his face. “Who the fuck told you that it was okay to speak like that to him? If you think it’s okay for an untrained twelve-year-old to be chucked onto the front lines to confront the biggest and most powerful Fire Lord since Sozin, then why don’t I suggest you start with your own children, General Fong?”

The General backed away from her slowly as if she were a giant moose-lion and a sudden move would cause her to pounce. “My apologies, Miss Aika. I did not mean-”

She growled, “Yes you did, or you wouldn’t have said it.”

“I simply meant that-”

“Say one more word, and my reaction will not be pleasant.”

Let it be known far and wide that General Fong of the Earth Kingdom was not a wise man. “I think-”

She chucked a hex at him. The group had never seen anything like it. The general sniffled for a few seconds before he grabbed his nose. They couldn’t really tell but suddenly from his hands, green dripping bat-like creatures emerged and even more came out of his nose. The bats flapped around his face, and he screamed, covering his face and running away. They simply followed him flapping in his face and shrieking as bats did. Turning to the other Earth Kingdom soldiers, she twirled her wand in her fingers. “Anyone have anything to say to the Avatar?” They all shook their heads in terror. “Great! Now, we are going to leave. Any attempt to follow will be met the same way I dealt with Fong.”

With that, the group climbed on Appa and flew away towards Omashu. Unable to maintain his cool, Sokka laughed hard. “What was that?”

“It’s called the Bat-Bogey Hex. It turns your boogers into bats and they chase you around for an hour or so.”

Katara and Aang couldn’t keep it in either. She was glad she could make them laugh.


	12. Caves, Omashu and Swamps, Oh my!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank everyone for your kind comments and to anyone who has left kudos! You guys are the best!!! I know I'm not the best at this, and I would never claim to be, but you guys make me want to keep writing this fic, so thank you XD
> 
> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.

The journey to the city of Omashu was definitely interesting.

Aika and Sokka were working on their tan on a small lake, while the other two were practising their waterbending. Aika had pulled two giant leaves from the ground, made them buoyant enough to float, and conjured some swimming shorts for the two boys and a very modest swimming bikini top and bottom with matching skirts for Katara and herself. “Sokka, want a refill?"

The boy held up his hand with his cup, “Sure.” She levitated a bottle and poured some into the cup then cast a cooling charm on it. “What is this drink called again?”

“It’s called Butterbeer. I saved a stash of the stuff, but I don’t know how to make it, so I only bring it out on special occasions.”

“What’s the special occasion today?”

“Being alive.”

“Fair enough.”

Eventually, some singing nomads came across them, “Hey river people!”

“We’re not river people,” Katara corrected.

The nomad man was puzzled, “You're not? Well, then what kind of people are you?”

“Just... people,” replied Aang.

They ended up travelling with the odd singing nomads to a labyrinth of caves that supposedly led directly to Omashu. Appa was not happy at being underground, but since the other route was blocked off by Fire Nation camps, they didn’t have much choice. Wanting to get out of the damn caves quickly, when they were far enough inside that she could confirm that the Fire Nation wasn’t following, Aika discreetly cast a charm to extinguish the fire on the torches. The path to Omashu was illuminated and everyone else was none the wiser.

The nomads, unfortunately, still sang the entire way.

“Pentapox? That’s your bright idea?” Aika asked, rolling her glamoured dark eyes. When she had seen that Omashu had fallen to the Fire Nation, she had glamoured herself, her auburn hair and blue eyes standing out way too much in the Earth Kingdom city. She had gone for brown hair and dark brown eyes, a boring colour combination.

“Yep! We’ll create a fake plague and then everyone will be sent out of the city! It’s brilliant!” Sokka announced proudly.

Or it was, until Yung said, “We've got a problem. We just did a headcount.”

Katara worriedly turned back to Yung. “Oh no. Did someone get left behind?”

“No, we have an extra.”

In all fairness, the baby was pretty cute.

“The deal’s off!” Mai held up her hand, gesturing for the guards to pull Bumi back up. As the chains reel in from above, the King was suspended in the air once again. 

Clearly amused by all this, Bumi exclaimed, “Whoa! See you all later!” The King chuckled and snorted as he was lifted away. 

Aang watched him go. “Bumi!” He sprinted forward with his glider at the ready, increasing his speed with his airbending. Azula tried to stop him by blocking his path with a stream of blue flames. Aang dodged these by leaping high up into the air. Azula was completely shocked by his incredible jump. Aang briefly touched the scaffolding around the statue and pushed himself off, opening his glider in mid-air. While opening his glider, he lost his hat, leaving his arrow tattoo exposed. 

Azula cried in surprise, “The Avatar!”

Aika rolled her eyes. Of course, like always, their plan went to hell in a hand-basket.

Knowing that Bumi and Aang needed to speak, Aika stayed with Katara and the baby. While Mai and Katara fought, knives versus water, Ty Lee thought she would get the drop on Aika. She leapt from behind her on the scaffolding and dealt a series of quick jabs to her arms, that didn’t really hurt all that much. 

“Um, sorry, but what was that?”

“I just chi-blocked you. How are you going to fight without your bending?” she taunted. 

Aika, bored now, flicked her wand, petrifying Ty Lee. “Like that.” The other girl looked horrified that she was unable to move. “Sorry, but, yeah, I’m not sorry. It’ll wear off in half an hour or so.”

Sokka arrived with Appa, knocking a blade that Mai had been about to use out of her hands with his boomerang. They try to catch up with Aang and Bumi, but they just miss him. Soon enough, they got to Aang and he returned the baby safe and sound to the governor.

Aika could feel something. Not a pull, or a tug, or anything, just… something. It was so faint though she could easily ignore it and continued reading her book. But then Sokka called to Aang, “Hey, you taking us down for a reason?” They all glanced at the airbender, who was looking down below them. Curious, Aika followed his line of sight to see a massive swamp beneath them. “Aang!” Aang snapped out of his trance. “Why are we going down?” Sokka repeated. The swamp did seem to be getting closer to them.

Confused, Aang replied, “What? I didn't even notice.”

“Are you noticing now?”

Katara moved to the front of the saddle. “Is something wrong?”

Aang still seemed somewhat dazed by the swamp. “I know this is going to sound weird, but I think the swamp is calling to me.”

“Now that you mention it, I can feel it too,” Aika said, frowning. “It’s really faint, I’ve been ignoring it, but it’s there.”

Sokka, ever the comedian, “Is it telling you where we can get something to eat?” Aika summoned a sandwich from her bag and chucked it at his head. “Hey!” he yelped indignantly. He still ate it though.

“No, I ... I think it wants us to land there.”

With his mouth full of food, Sokka said, “No offence to the swamp, but I don't see any land there to land on.”

“Bumi said to learn earthbending I would have to wait and listen, and now I'm actually hearing the earth. Do you want me to ignore it?”

“Yes. I’m not about to be killed in a swamp because it tickles the Avatar’s and an energy-bender’s spidey senses,” Sokka claimed. Aika and Aang looked at him, clearly not amused. “What?”

Katara glimpsed over the edge of the saddle again. “There’s something ominous about that place.” 

Appa growled at the leaves and Momo chattered and hid under one of the blankets. “See, even Appa and Momo don't like it here.”

Resignedly, Aang exhaled, “Okay, since everyone feels so strongly about this,” he looked down, “bye swamp. Yip, Yip!” Appa groaned and flew upward, away from the swamp. Suddenly, a tornado emerged from out of nowhere, heading right for Appa. Sokka, hearing something, turned around and finally saw it.

Panicked, Sokka shouted, “You better throw in an extra "yip"! We gotta move!”

Appa started to fly faster, attempting to avoid the tornado, however, he wasn't fast enough to get away. As the tornado began to move closer to Appa, the wind pulled Sokka right off from the saddle. Katara managed to grab hold of his hand, holding him back from flying into the tornado, Aika grabbed his other hand. Aang jumped up onto Appa's saddle and created an air shield around Appa, stabilizing the air and allowing Sokka to fall back into the saddle, uninjured. The wind sucked Appa and the group, who was still protected by the air shield, into the tornado. Aang struggled to maintain the air shield, however, Aika conjured her own shield over them as well to help. Unfortunately, Appa kicked one of his legs straight through both, thereby breaking them. Aang, Katara, Aika and Sokka tumbled off the bison, with Aang and Aika landing lightly in muddied water as the other two landed quite roughly against the tree trunks.

Looking around the swamp and at his friends, Aang murmured, “Where's Appa and Momo?” He jumped up to the top of the trees, looking for his animal friends as he used the height to search for them. “Appa! Momo!” he called.

“It’s okay, Aang. We’ll find them.” She looked around at the fog and darkness that was settling fast in the swamp. Their surroundings were dark, ominous and way too silent. “But I think we’ll have more luck in the morning.” Not willing to bring out the tent in here, as if some vicious animal would tear it up, or worse, the swamp smell would stick to the fabric, Aika set out sleeping bags and conjured a fire. As Katara, Aang and Sokka huddled, the energy-bender held her wand out in front of her and chanted, “ _Protego maxima, fianto duri, repello inimicum._ ” While she didn’t have the strength of hundreds of simultaneous casters like the Battle of Hogwarts did, the charms were easy to maintain even while she slept. It would keep them safe for the night.

Of course, that didn’t mean she couldn’t lose them during the day. When they woke, as soon as she took down the charms so they could search for Appa and Momo, a large vine wrapped itself around Sokka and dragged him away. The same was done to Aang and Katara before she could get her wand out of her sleeve. With their bracelets still on, she easily tracked them. She could feel that they were all moving towards the giant tree in the middle of the swamp, so that’s where she headed too. Over and under vines, roots and marshes, she kept trekking closer and closer to the tree. Suddenly, she heard a masculine voice call, “Aika!”

Looking around, she couldn’t see anyone, so she guessed it must have been Sokka or Aang calling out for her. “I’m here!” she called back. No one responded so they must not have heard her. “Hello? Sokka? Aang? I’m here!”

“Aika duck!” Instinctively, she obeyed, but nothing flew overhead. 

Getting up again, she pulled out her wand and cast a cleaning charm to get rid of the swamp muck and muttered, “What the hell?” Wand at the ready, she looked around for any sign of danger or a threat. She shook her head to clear it, “It must be my mind.” She would have to meditate tonight to brush up on her occlumency shields and her mind palace.

When she rounded a particularly large tree, she paused at the sight in front of her. She recognised herself, or at least the back of herself, her long auburn hair and figure, but what the hell was she wearing? A long red dress reaching the ground… She didn’t own red. It was too… Gryffindor. She had her wand gripped in one hand and was reaching up for someone to hoist her up onto… the tree? Dear Merlin, was this one of those visions of the swamp? There was a reason she hated divination. Rolling her eyes, she figured that this would end up happening eventually. She kept walking, but obviously the swamp didn’t want her to miss the second bit of the vision. Vines curled around her ankles and twisted her so she was facing herself again. She growled softly and wanted to hack away at the stupid vines, but the voice stopped her, “Give me your hand! Aika!” She recognised that voice now.

She muttered under her breath, “Oh for Morgana's sake, swamp. I’m not a fucking damsel in distress.”

Funnily enough, that’s what the future vision of her said, “I’m not a damsel in distress Zuko, I can take care of myself.”

“Yes, I know. But you don’t have to anymore,” the vision prince responded.

“Dear Merlin…” she groaned out loud. “That much sweetness is gonna rot my teeth. Hey, swamp, do me a favour and just end me now if that’s how I turn out.” Before the vision ended, she saw herself give the vision Zuko a hard thump over the head. “Thank god, I haven’t gone completely soft.” The vine let her go finally, the swamp satisfied that she had seen the vision it had graciously provided. At least that particular nugget of swampy wisdom could be applied to any number of situations where she worked with him to climb something… If she ignored the obvious affection... Yeah, she was going to ignore it… Just like she had been ignoring… Nope. Not the time. Ignoring now.

She kept on her journey to the centre of the swamp to find the others. She came to a particularly trippy tree and ended up falling down a trunk and crash landing into Sokka, Katara and Aang, twisting oddly and getting someone’s knee shoved into her side. “Merlin’s saggy balls, I think I sprained my liver,” she moaned in pain. 

Aang, jumping up, shouted, “Aika! We found you too.”

Sokka at the bottom of the pile of bodies, whined, “More like she found us.”

Not having heard him, or not bothering to respond, Aang paused and asked, “Wait, can you sprain your liver?”

Getting up and holding her side, Aika replied, “Don’t really know, but mine feels sprained. _Episkey._ ” She cast it on all of them, healing the small injuries that they might have sustained from trekking in a swamp. “You guys okay?”

“Yeah. Did you guys see a girl anywhere?” Aang looked around as if hoping to spot her again.

“What girl?” Katara queried.

“I don't know. I heard laughing and I saw some girl in a fancy dress.”

With exaggerated hand movements for emphasis, Sokka sarcastically remarked, “Well, there must be a tea party here and we just didn't get our invitations!” Aika snickered.

“I thought I saw Mom,” Katara supplied, looking down at her shoes.

“Look, we were all just scared and hungry and our minds were playing tricks on us. That's why we all saw things out here,” Sokka insisted.

“You saw something too?” Katara asked, surprised.

Sokka looked away for a moment, before turning back and taking a step closer to his sister. “I thought I saw Yue. But, that doesn't prove anything. Look, I think about her all the time, and you saw Mom, someone you miss a lot.”

“What about me? I didn’t know the girl I saw. And all our visions led us right here.”

“The middle of the swamp?” Katara asked dubiously. 

Of course, they all ventured up to the giant tree in the middle of the swamp, where they met this crazy dude who led them all back to Appa and Momo. Aika, not liking the place at all, insisted that they at least leave the swamp before they made camp for the night again. She was not going to spend another night in here, and she most certainly was not going to reveal the tent to a bunch of half-naked swamp people who smelt like they hadn’t had a bath in their lives. In fact, before she allowed everyone inside, she cast multiple cleaning charms over them and told them in no uncertain terms that if they didn’t have a bath as soon as they got inside, she would ensure she scrubbed them down personally from head to toe. No way was she having the swamp stink in her tent.

When they were all suitably clean to her standards, they were each granted a small piece of chocolate as a reward, something she had found out they didn’t have in this world, which was absolute blasphemy. Each of them absolutely adored the sweet. She had transfigured them all some clothes, for the time being; their own were hanging out to dry by the fire. Settling down on the sofas, she gave them all tea and they just relaxed in each other’s company. They so rarely had the chance to do so.

“What did you see in the swamp, Aika?” Katara asked, taking a sip of her tea.

Aika looked over at the girl. “Nothing important, Katara.”

Aang sat up straighter, “But what did you see?”

“Myself… whacking Zuko over the head.”

Sokka grinned and laughed, “Ha! Serves him right!” Aang giggled and Momo, who had been thoroughly cleaned by Aika before being allowed back into the tent, chittered happily. Looking down into her cup, Aika continued ignoring what she had seen. She was good at that.


	13. Expansion of the Group and A Trap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.
> 
> More Zuko! :D Things are going to start tp pick up between them now!
> 
> Enjoy!

“It's pricey... but I really do like it,” Sokka said pensively. Aika rolled her eyes. He had been doing this for the last seven minutes and forty-two seconds. Yes, she had been counting.

They were standing in the middle of a shop in the marketplace of a random town in the Earth Kingdom. Aika didn’t know what was worse at this point, the dust, the humidity, the people that kept bumping into her or the fact that Sokka was still trying to decide if he wanted to buy a Merlin-damned handbag. 

Always the pacifist, his sister uttered, “Then you should get it, you deserve something nice.”

“I do, don't I?” Katara looked at him with a bored expression. “But no, it's too expensive. I shouldn't.”

“All right, then don't,” she commented absently.

Katara walked away in boredom, Aang and Aika followed her. Sokka paused for a moment and went along, too, his eyes still on the bag. Changing his mind yet again, Sokka quickly ran back into the shop. Enthusiastically, he said, “You know what? I'm gonna get it.” He smiled, pleased with himself.

The other three and Momo waited down the street for the indecisive idiot, not wanting to deal with his antics any longer. A town citizen noticed them standing there and ran up, showing them a flyer. “Psst, psst! Hey, you kids love earthbending? You like... throwing rocks? Then check out Master Yu's Earthbending Academy.” The weird man ran away to hound another passerby.

Aang said excitedly, “Look! There's a coupon on the back! The first lesson is free.”

“Who knows? This Master Yu could be the earthbending teacher you've been looking for,” Katara hoped.

When the airbender came out of the academy, a little worse for wear, he immediately noticed that Aika was gripping Sokka but his shirt, the tip of her wand on his nose. Alarmed, he ran to Katara, “What’s going on?”

“Sokka was complaining that we shouldn't have let him buy the bag. Aika got fed up.”

“Right…”

“Sokka, dude, I’m right on the edge. Don’t push me.”

Sokka went cross-eyed trying to look at the wand and then back up at the angry girl holding it. “Okay,” he whimpered. She let him go. He scrambled back out of her reach cradling his new bag in his arms.

Aika’s mood did a complete three-sixty when she spotted Aang, so fast that she almost gave them whiplash, “Hey, kid, how was your lesson?” She stowed her wand and grinned kindly at him.

Aang reacted like a deer caught in headlights, “Uh… Um… He’s not the one.”

“That’s okay, we’ll find you the best earthbending teacher this world has to offer!” 

Just as she spoke, Aang overheard one of the other students from the academy, “I think The Boulder's going to win back the belt at Earth Rumble VI.

“He's going to have to fight his way through the best earthbenders in the world to get a shot at the champ.”

When Aang asked the boys where this competition would be taking place, the rude kid taunted him sarcastically, “It's on the island of Noneya ... "Noneya" business!” Aang’s face dropped sadly and it broke Aika’s heart.

She smiled consolingly to the airbender. “I'll take care of this. Hey, guys! Wait up!” She ran after the students around a corner.

“What is going on with Aika?” Aang asked Katara, concerned for his older sister.

Sokka, the insensitive dolt that he was, interrupted, “I think it’s her time of the month.” Aang’s jaw dropped, he didn’t need to know that.

Katara rolled her eyes, “You’re a dolt.”

None of them had noticed that the girl in question had returned, so she scared the shit of him when she said coldly, “For your information Sokka, I was trying out a new spell when it backfired and the flushing potion to get rid of the effects has my emotions haywire for a few days.” She whacked the boy upside his head, “And if you say something like that again, my next Bat-Bogey hex has your name on it.” His small whimper in fear satisfied her raging emotions. “Now are you ready to meet your earthbending teacher? I got the location for Earth Rumble VI.”

“Do we want to know how you got that?” Katara questioned carefully.

She shrugged, “Eh, probably not. Now let's go.”

A man with long hair walked out onto the platform, raising his left arm. “Welcome to Earth Rumble VI! I am your host, Xin Fu!”

Katara sighed and looked at Aika. “This is just going to be a bunch of guys chucking rocks at each other, isn't it?”

Sokka happily pronounced, “That's what I paid for!”

Katara looked at her sister with big pleading eyes. Aika nodded and wearily pulled out her wand to cast a silencing ward over the two girls and a shield charm over them all, except Sokka. He got nothing. She was holding a grudge, so sue her. Not that it looked like he wanted one with how into the fights he was getting. Aika pulled out a book for herself while Katara picked up a scroll. Unfortunately, the silence didn’t last as long as she hoped when Aang nudged Katara and broke the ward.

“Look Katara! It’s the Champion!”

Xin Fu announced, “Now, the moment you've all been waiting for. The Boulder versus your champion ... the Blind Bandit!”

“She can't really be blind,” Katara said, squinting her eyes sceptically. “It's just part of her character, right?”

Aang didn’t share her convictions, “I think she is.”

Sokka deadpanned, “I think she is... going down!” He gestured his hands in a downward motion.

Aika shot a silencing charm at him to shut him up.

Even Aika had to admit, Toph had a lot of balls for a small girl and the skills, confidence and power to back herself up. Her ego, while undoubtedly huge, was not baseless. She won against someone five times her size, without much effort. She immediately liked her. Then Aang had to go and bruise her hard-earned self-confidence. On their way out of the arena, Aika placed her arm around the young airbenders shoulders, “Have Katara and I taught you nothing about girls? Lesson one, if you want a girl to help you, don’t ruin their self-esteem.”

Luckily, they were able to find the Blind Bandit again at a wealthy mansion at the edge of the city. Aang tried the sneaky way of convincing her first. Then they had to try the hard way. Aang, of course, made a fool of himself and Toph looked perfectly innocent, which made Aika’s respect for the twelve year old girl increase dramatically. Very Slytherin that one.

Of course, when Aang and Toph were kidnapped and taken back to the Rumble arena, Lao Beifong got to see how truly amazing his daughter really was. And he rejected her for it. Her heart went out to the poor girl. However, she knew what was going to happen, so when Aang went to protest the Beifong’s decision, she lightly placed a hand on his shoulder and ushered him out the door. They left the estate without another word.

They were just about to leave on Appa when they noticed footsteps gaining on them fast. Thinking it might be the Fire Nation, Sokka, Katara and Aang jumped to attention, but Aika only smiled. Toph ran up to them, panting from the exertion. Aang exclaimed, “Toph, what are you doing here?”

“My dad changed his mind. He said I was free to travel the world,” she told them.

“Well then we better get going before he changes his mind back again,” Aika remarked.

Toph fidgeted. “Good idea.”

“You're going to be a great teacher, Toph,” Aang expressed.

“Speaking of which, I want to show you something,” Toph grinned cheekily.

“Okay.” Aang jumped down from Appa enthusiastically, ready to start an earthbending move, but the girl instead bended up a rock, and sent it flying into him, catapulting him into the air and landing in a nearby tree with a thud. They could hear him groan in pain.

“Now we're even,” she claimed. “Um, I'll take the belt back.” He held her hand up to Sokka, who pouted but tossed the belt down, hitting Toph on the head with a thump and knocking her over. Katara and Aika winced.

“Ow!” Toph cried.

“Sorry!” Sokka apologised. 

Katara and Aika winced again when they heard another thud and an exclamation of pain from Aang. It seemed he had got out of the tree far less gracefully than usual for an airbender.

It was nearing sunset when they found a suitable spot to make camp for the night. As soon as he landed, a puff of fur dropped off the ten-ton bison. They all jumped off Appa and Aika began the process of setting up the tent. “Hey! You guys picked a great campsite.” This directed everyone's attention to her. She wiggled her toes in the thick mat of fur covering the ground around the bison. “The grass is so soft.”

“That's not grass,” Sokka mentioned, somewhat displeased. “Appa's shedding.”

Katara looked down at the mess stuck to her shoes, “Oh, gross!”

Aang, who was still sitting on Appa distracted by a butterfly fluttering past and had a tiny bluebird perched on his head, cheerfully said, “That's not gross, it's just a part of spring! You know, rebirth, flowers blooming and Appa gets a new coat.” Momo jumped up in an attempt to catch the butterfly.

Katara mumbled sarcastically, “Ah, the beauty of spring.”

“Beautiful or not, do not trek Appa’s old fur into the tent please!” Aika called from inside the tent. At that moment, Appa, who had been grooming himself, sneezed, releasing a thick cloud of fur.

Poor Katara was standing too close to the bison and was now coated in fur. “Stop! Appa, stop! Ugh!” Katara coughed, waving her arms around, trying to get rid of it.

Bending over, his back turned to her, Sokka said, “It's not that bad, Katara.” He turned to reveal a wig made of fur. “It makes a great wig!”

Aang now wore a beard of fur. “And a great beard!” Both boys laughed while pointing at each other.

Wiping fur off her clothing with her eyes closed, Katara sighed, “I'm just glad we have another girl in the group because you two are disgusting.”

Toph, walking up from behind the two boys, asked, “Excuse me, does anyone have a razor? Because I've got some hairy pits!” She raised her arms, revealing that she had stuffed fur in her sleeves. The three laughed, Katara frowned. Aang suddenly sneezed, sending himself flying backwards and causing him to crash against Appa's leg. They continued to laugh joyfully, causing Katara to chuckle slightly.

Aika chose that moment to come out of the tent and she surveyed the scene before her. Rolling her eyes, she called, “Come here, you nutcases. Let me clean you up before you go inside.” Katara was the first one in line, eager to get rid of the fur, followed by Aang and Sokka. Aika cast a cleaning charm on them one by one and each of them went inside. Finally, it was only Toph and Aika who stood outside. 

“I don’t know what you did to them, but I am not having you mother me and clean me up. I’m done with that. I’ll just go make my shelter elsewhere if you don’t want me inside. I’ll carry my own weight,” the blind girl told her directly. Toph would never admit it out loud, but the eldest of their group had… odd vibrations. She connected to the ground in a really odd way, but it was nice at the same time. These vibrations made her calm.

Not that the smaller girl could see it, but Aika smiled, “Toph, I don’t expect you to carry your own weight. We know you aren’t helpless. We know you’re strong and capable. But that doesn’t mean you can’t accept some help or can’t help us in turn. Besides, now that you are a part of our group, there are certain things you need to know, especially about me.”

Toph shifted from foot to foot, feeling the truth in her words. Then she extended her seismic senses out and found the small tent in front of her, feeling where the nails had stuck holes into the ground. She could feel the other three walking around inside, but she had no idea how they would all fit. The tent was tiny. “How are we going to fit in there? It’s so small.”

“It’s one of those things I need to explain. Come on. Remember, I’m not going to hurt you.” Toph could feel the truth and then a wave of...something… washed over her and she no longer felt the fur sticking to her.

“What the hell was that?!” Toph shouted.

“If you come inside, I’ll tell you.” And with that, Aika went into the tent. Toph followed seconds later, way too curious to let this go. She was absolutely amazing by what she could ‘see’ inside. The teeny-tiny tent was HUGE! She was so sure this could absolutely not exist. No way in the world. 

“Now, as I’m sure you can tell, there are some differences in what you felt outside to what is in here. The space inside the tent has been expanded to make sure we can live comfortably inside. Now, up those small wooden steps are the bedrooms. The first two are occupied by Sokka and Aang, the one right at the end is mine, and the one next to mine on the left is Katara’s. There are two others to choose from. Did you want to pick now before dinner?”

Still in shock from what she was feeling, the young girl nodded and followed Aika up the steps and in front of two doors. She felt what was beyond them and didn’t see much difference at all, so she picked the one that was closest to the back of the corridor, the one closer to Aika’s room (again, not that she would admit it). “Place your hand on the door and say your name. Then, only you can get in unless there is an emergency or you invite someone in. This will be your space, Toph. Whatever you want to do with it. It’s your choice.”

“Mine?” Toph had never really had anything totally hers before. Everything she had owned had been carefully selected for the weak little girl her parents thought her to be. So having her own space was pretty cool.

“Yours,” Aika confirmed. Toph nodded, pressed her hand on the door, whispered her name and then went inside.

“So you’re an energy-bender?”

Aika hummed in confirmation. Aang and Sokka were all too happy to elaborate for her. “Yeah! It’s awesome! She can do so much! And she’s got all these cool objects and books! And she has a wand that shoots lights and smashes things!”

“And she has nice drinks and disgusting medicines and potions. Stuff that makes you sleepy and heals you.”

“Okay, calm down,” Katara scolded the two boys. “You don’t want to overwhelm her!”

Toph grunted. “I’m fine.” 

The energy-bender thought it might be easier for her to understand by connecting back to what Toph could ‘see’. “Toph, like yours, my power comes from being connected to the earth. But where yours is about controlling the rock itself, mine is about controlling and manipulating the vibrations and energy that exists in it to make impossible things happen.”

Toph grinned, “Now that I understand. You’re an odd sort of earthbender.”

“Yeah, I guess I am,” Aika mused.

It was Toph who felt it first. She had just been walking back towards her room - it felt good to own something - when the vibrations of the area surrounding the tent changed. “There’s something coming toward us!” she yelled.

Instantly, Aika pulled her wand and was on high alert, running outside of the tent. Katara asked the girl, “What is it?”

“It feels like an avalanche, but also not an avalanche.”

“Your powers of perception are frightening,” Sokka muttered sardonically.

Aika came back in quickly and said, “We should leave. Now.” They all piled back outside where they saw a column of black smoke which appeared to be coming closer to them.

“What is that thing?” Katara asked. No one knew how to answer her. Within a minute, Aika had everything packed and they were flying on Appa again. They all watched the black column as it disappeared into the distance.

“That thing is back!”

“You have got to be joking,” Aika mumbled. 

They packed up and left again.

She was contemplating putting up a fidelius charm so they could get some damn sleep. They were all tired, irritable and getting on each other’s nerves, especially Toph and Katara. But no sooner than three minutes after they had touched down, the thing was back. She was getting seriously pissed off. Gulping down a pepper-up potion, she handed another one to Aang, “Everyone take a sip of this. It’ll give you a bit of a jolt, so don’t be alarmed.”

After Aang to his sip, he looked ten times more alert and handed it to Katara, then Sokka, then Toph. The bottle was empty when she had finished but all of them looked and felt as if they had slept through the night. “What is that stuff?” Toph burst out.

“Pepper-Up potion. One sip is more than enough for you guys right now, so don’t even bother asking for more.” The girl’s face fell slightly. “Now, let’s see who is keeping me from my Morgana damned sleep.” Aika pulled her wand from her sleeve and stomped over to the side of the cliff. 

In the distance, the mysterious thing that had been following them was actually a tank. They watched as it slowed to a halt, the door to one compartment opened, releasing a burst of steam. From the mist emerged three Mongoose Lizards; Aika vaguely recognised the people standing atop them… Oh right, the banished prince’s sister. Azula had a determined look on her face. The three began racing toward the group.

“It’s those three girls from Omashu!” yelled Katara in shock.

Toph stood strong and tall. “We can definitely take them. Three on four.”

Sokka turned to her, “Actually Toph, there's five of us.”

Sheepishly, she responded, “Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't count you. You know, no bending and all.”

He turned to her, his face distorted with rage. “I can still fight!”

She grinned smugly. “Okay, three on four plus Sokka.”

“Errrgh!” he growled, face turning red.

“Not the time, guys,” Aika scolded.

As if that was her cue, Toph earthbended three columns in an attempt to hinder the girls, however, the Mongoose Lizards merely leap over the pillars and continue on their way. 

“Guys, go back to Appa, now!” Aika ordered. Katara, Sokka and Aang obeyed immediately, but Toph held her ground.

“We can take them!” She tried earthbending a rock wall in front of the attackers instead but Azula simply moved her arms in a circular motion, generating lightning. She fired the bolt at the wall, leaving a huge gaping hole in the middle which the lizards clambered through. Toph looked shocked at how easily her wall was destroyed. One of the other girls swung her arm, releasing a flurry of stiletto knives. To avoid them, Toph launched herself off a pillar. The darts strike the pillar and she lands on Appa. To give them a chance of escape, Aika fired off multiple stunning spells, most hitting the lizards and making them drop where they were. The three girls atop the lizards were thrown off them with their sudden stop. By the time they got up to fight, Appa was already flying away.

Thankfully, with the pepper-up still in their systems, they weren’t complaining too much about their lack of sleep. They would have never heard the end of it from Sokka otherwise. “How do they keep finding us?” Katara voiced the question on everyone’s mind.

“Appa,” Aika replied.

“What? You’re blaming Appa?!” Aang yelled angrily.

“His coat. He’s shedding, Aang, and leaving a trail that's pretty easy to follow,” she reasoned calmly. He calmed down when he realised that she may be right.

“How do we get them to stop following us?”

“We set a trap!” Sokka claimed. 

“What? Are you nuts? We’re operating on no sleep!” Katara declared.

Toph deadpanned, “Way to state the obvious, princess.”

“I don’t know about you guys, but with the drink Aika gave us, I’m not tired at all,” Sokka observed. “We can fight them off if it’s on our terms.”

“Okay, but where?” The first rays of sunlight crept over the edge of the horizon. “It’s daybreak now so the girl with the crazy blue fire is going to be stronger.”

“Okay, so how are we going to do this?”

“We’ll split up. Sokka, you, Toph and Katara will go one way and Aang and I will go the other way.” Together, they ended up formulating a pretty decent plan.

Which is how they ended up in a Mexican stand-off situation with Azula. Using Aang as bait, they lured her into an old abandoned town. Her first mistake was thinking that she could handle Aang alone. They had used Appa’s fur to lure them in one direction and footprints in the other. They figured that the two girls without bending power would go together and the one with the fire would go alone. They were correct. Azula followed the trail of fur thinking that the airbender had taken his bison and split from the others, and sent the other two girls after the rest of them. Meanwhile, two non-benders were lured into a place where Katara has access to a river of water and Toph could easily use the earth. The fight was over relatively quickly.

Azula’s second mistake was thinking that Aang really was alone. 

“All right, you've caught up with me. Now, who are you and what do you want?”

Azula noted coolly, “You mean you haven't guessed? You don't see the family resemblance? Here's a hint.” She covered her left eye and deepened her voice, imitating Zuko. “I must find the Avatar to restore my honour!” Aang remained silent. She switched back to her normal voice, “It's okay, you can laugh. It's funny.”

“So what now?” he asked.

“Now? Now, it's over. You're tired, cut off from your friends and you have no place to go. You can run, but I'll catch you.”

“I'm not running. And I’m not alone.”

The fight was over before it had really begun. Azula had managed to get one fire blast in before Aika stunned her. With all her focus on Aang, Azula never saw Aika. Although the disillusionment charm had helped too.

So when Zuko stampeded into the scene on an ostrich-horse, both were slightly amused at his expression of pure bewilderment at seeing his sister lying face down in the dirt. “H...How?” He looked over the two. “You don’t even have a scratch or burn!”

Aika twirled her wand through her fingers. “Eh, we had the element of surprise.” Aang snickered. “So… How’ve you been, Zuko? Life on the run’s not too dreary I hope.” She glanced around. 

“Where’s your uncle?” The Avatar beside her looked at her like she had sprouted three heads and started singing. “Oh don’t look at me like that. Just because he’s tried to kill us once or twice… maybe a few more times… doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be cordial.”

“That’s exactly what it means!” Aang declared.

“Eh, whatever. Now, if we have no further business here, I believe we should go see how our friends fared against their sparring partners. Ready to go?” Aang nodded and blew his bison whistle. Appa turned up thirty seconds later. The airbender bounded over to his furry friend happily while Aika walked at a more sedate pace.

“Wait!” Zuko called. “Aika? Can I talk to you?”

Aang frowned. Why would their enemy walk to talk to her? More importantly, why did she say, “It’s okay, Aang, I can handle this. You go help the others. I’ll wait here for you.” He eyed her, reluctant to leave her alone with Zuko and his sister, even if one of them was knocked out. 

Whatever he saw in her face convinced him, because he found himself nodding and leaving to find the others. “Appa, yip-yip!”

When he was out of sight, she turned to Zuko, “So, what did you want to ask m-” She was cut off by a kiss. She wrenched herself away and put at least an arm's length between them. “What in Merlin's name? That’s twice you’ve done that!”

Not having expected that reaction, Zuko stammered, “I..Uh...I…”

“Honey, you’re gonna have to do better than that.”

He sighed, running a hand through his short hair. “Thank you... for healing my eye.”

She shrugged, “Yeah, sure. Did you use the potion?” She stepped a little closer to inspect his eye and found that it looked perfect. Not even a pigmentation or a wrinkle. Brilliant.

He nodded, “Yeah. How did you do it?”

“Magic.”

He rolled his eyes. “Uh-huh, sure. If you’re not going to tell me that, how about how you do all the other stuff?”

“I just told you, magic.” She heard a very quiet groan behind her and saw Azula starting to wake. Zuko, having heard it too, moved into a fighting stance instantly. Aika simply threw another stunner at the girl again making her go quiet. “See, magic.” He gaped but didn’t say anything. 

Looking at him, she could see the confusion, the conflict in his eyes, his face. And not just about what she could do. He looked so lost, so fragile, like if she said the wrong thing he would fall apart. “Zuko…” He looked at her. “I’m going to tell you something that your mind will immediately reject but you need to hear it: your self-worth, your honour, does not hinge upon what your father thinks of you. It depends on what you think of you.”

Before he could respond, she caught her name shouted in the distance. “They’ll be here soon.” Footsteps echoed behind them and they turned and saw Iroh walking out from two of the shacks lining the deserted street. “And it looks like you’ve got somewhere to be too.” Appa landed a bit away from them, all of her little group staring daggers at the prince. “See ya later, Zuko.” Walking leisurely to her friends, she didn’t dare ponder over the fact that she put the tiniest bit more sway in her hips than absolutely necessary.


	14. Interlude I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.
> 
> I wanted to add this one because I rarely show Zuko’s POV. This story is mainly about Aika, but I think it’s high time I show some of his personal growth. FYI, Zuko is not completely canon compliant from here on in this story and this is where his age starts to become important.

Zuko was tired. He was tired of fighting, tired of running, tired of being pushed and pulled in whatever way the spirits decided. 

It all started that day… on the ship. The day his search for the Avatar ended and the day his hunt began. It felt like a hundred years ago, but if he closed his eyes, he could remember it as clearly as if it were yesterday. And he could pinpoint exactly when it all had changed, the exact second where everything he had worked for, everything that he believed would start to skew in ways that he couldn’t predict. 

He had first noticed her hair as it caught the smallest ray of sunshine. It had glowed like fire, something very odd for the dreary cold South. The second thing he had noticed was her eyes, blue like ice. The greatest contradiction; fire and ice. She was beautiful, the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. But he had ignored it for the sake of his mission.

Then he had noticed her power. Not that he could have possibly missed it, she had used it to snatch the Avatar from his clutches. He had never seen someone with that sort of power. She commanded more than just a single element which was unheard of in anyone but the Avatar. She had manipulated water, and she had even produced fire. She had shouted nonsense words and suddenly his men were frozen and unable to attack. That sort of power had shocked, awed and slightly terrified him. Terrified him simply because he had no idea what it was, an unknown subject. 

Then it was her actions. The next time he had seen her, she was changing the course of massive fire catapults. Of course, there was the temple… And she had healed him after he had helped them escape from Zhao, managing to heal his scar… Not even the Fire Nation’s best healers had been able to get the red to lessen…

All these thoughts swirled in his mind as he watched her leave on that damned sky bison with the damned Avatar, after having given some advice that sounded vaguely like something his uncle would say. His honour… What even was that anymore?

“You know, I never thought it was true,” his uncle said suddenly from behind him.

“What do you mean?” Zuko frowned.

“Let’s go first before Azula wakes up.” They both looked down at his sister who was starting to stir once again.

“Good idea, Uncle.”

Zuko accepted the cup of hot tea from his uncle and sat cross-legged in front of the fire. They had found an abandoned shack high in the desert hills and no one could be seen for miles. They were well and truly alone out here. He took a sip of his tea, and asked, “So what did you mean earlier? About Aika?”

Iroh stroked his beard thoughtfully. “I remember reading a story in the Fire Sage Archives. About a man who could do incredible things,” he said cryptically. 

The younger man rolled his eyes, “There are a lot of stories like that.” Would it kill his uncle to ever be a bit more specific?

The Dragon of the West shook his head, his face strangely serious, which slightly concerned the ex-prince. “Not like this one. This was in the very back of the archives, considered a myth. It happened over a thousand years ago. The man waved about a stick and could summon all four elements and beams of light that were all sorts of colors. The legend says he apparently glowed green and destroyed everything in his path. It took the Avatar and the Kings and Lords from all four nations to even get him to halt in his attack so they could ask him what he wanted. All he ever said was that he wanted to go home.” He paused, his voice taking on a lighter tone. “Then there was something about a hog’s warts. I didn’t know a hog could get warts,” Iroh mused brightly, touching his chin in thought and getting a bit side-tracked. “Do hogs get warts?”

Zuko rolled his eyes at his uncle's story, but he had to admit, aside from that last part, that did sound an awful lot like she could do. But, “What can be more than the elements? She called it magic,” he mumbled under his breath.

Iroh hummed and replied, not having heard the mutter, “Energy.”

“Energy?”

“Energy,” Iroh confirmed. “Energy is all around us. It’s in the air, the sun, the moon, the earth, the animals, the plants. Everything is energy and energy is everything. Without the elements, we could not live, but without energy, we could not be. That girl might just be able to manipulate it.”

The ex-prince shook his head, and muttered gruffly, “What do you mean?”

Iroh sighed at his nephew, “I believe it is similar to how we make lightning. There is energy all around us. The energy is both yin and yang. Positive energy and negative energy. Only a select few firebenders can separate these energies. This creates an imbalance. The energy wants to restore balance, and in a moment the positive and negative energy come crashing back together, creating lightning.” The more he thought about his theory, the more Iroh believed that he was correct. “While firebenders can use these energies to create a different type of fire, that girl can use it to do anything she wants. She bends pure energy, manipulates it according to her command.”

The silence in the room was deafening. It took five solid minutes of tea drinking for Zuko to begin to understand what his uncle was trying to say, “She can do anything?”

His uncle nodded, “I believe so, Zuko. As long as she has enough energy.” He eyed his nephew shrewdly. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed what you think of her.”

He saw no point in denying it. Uncle Iroh probably knew him better than he knew himself. “There’s something about her Uncle,” Zuko admitted, staring into his tea. 

The older man sighed and nodded, “She calls to you?” His nephew didn’t need to say anything, it was written all over his face. “Oh, Zuko. If that’s the case, you need to forget about the Avatar.”

“What? Capturing the Avatar is the only thing that will restore my honour!” Zuko proclaimed angrily, but his voice lacked the heat that it once had in the past. Saying it now, he realised that he didn't really believe it anymore. He was tired of this, of lying to himself. Restoring his honour… The thought had kept him going for a very long time, when he was a fifteen-year-old boy, permanently scarred (at the time) and cast out of home by his father for something as simple as speaking out of turn. But now… what use was it anymore? He was a fugitive from the Fire Nation and would never return to the place he grew up. He would never gain the respect, pride or love that he had so desperately sought from his father. His father… who had neglected him and mentally and emotionally abused him since he was small. 

Being with his uncle these past four years, a man who had been continually patient, calm, caring, supportive and willing to teach him, even when Zuko had shouted, screamed, yelled, demanded and argued. His Uncle had always been there for him, unlike his father, who had only shown Zuko his scorn, disdain and disgust. Zuko’s travels on his own these past few weeks had really opened his eyes to how cruel his father actually was. 

The ex-general put his hands up in a placating manner, even if he didn’t really need to. “Calm down, Zuko. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to make a choice. The girl, or the Avatar. Because she will not let you take him to your father. If she really can bend the energies, then not even your father, the great Fire Lord Ozai, could stop her. You saw what she did to Azula.”

That stopped whatever ex-prince had been about to say. That was… all true. There was a distinct pause. “Uncle… I’ve… noticed that…”

“Your fire is stronger when she is close. It’s easier to call upon, isn’t it?”

How was his uncle so perceptive? “How did you-?”

“I have seen it when you fight. Perhaps, if she is an energy bender, the fire in you might be compatible with the energy she wields.”

“So what? She’s taking it away from me? Then how come I feel so powerful?” he clenched his fists and looked down at them as if they held all the answers. 

“I don’t believe she’s taking it from you, nephew. We firebenders spend our whole lives pushing the fire down, especially when we are hurt, angry or upset, or we could hurt ourselves or someone we love. If you have a similar energy to her, then it might rise to the surface, making it easier for you to use it.” Iroh poured more tea for himself, taking a sip and letting his nephew process his words. They were silent for a long time. 

“Thank you,” Zuko said. Iroh didn’t comment, knowing that his gratitude was for way more than the advice he had just provided.

He wanted to learn some more advanced fire-bending techniques, and remembering what his uncle had said, asked if he could teach him to create lightning.

Iroh explained, “Lightning is a pure form of firebending, without aggression. It is not fueled by rage or emotion the way other firebending is. Some call lightning the cold-blooded fire. It is precise and deadly, like Azula. To perform the technique requires peace of mind.” He then repeated what he had said the night before about the energies and demonstrated lightning a few times for his nephew. 

The ex-prince quickly announced he was ready to try it. But his first few attempts kept exploding in his face and his temper flared red hot. His Uncle decided to take a different approach.

“Fire is the element of power,” Iroh lectured, drawing the insignia of fire in the dirt with a stick. “The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will, and the energy to drive and achieve what they want. Earth is the element of substance.” He drew the earthbending insignia. “The people of the Earth Kingdom are diverse and strong. They are persistent and enduring. Air is the element of freedom.” The airbending symbol was drawn above the symbol for fire. “The Air Nomads detached themselves from worldly concerns and found peace and freedom. Also, they apparently had pretty good senses of humour! Water is the element of change.” He drew the waterbending emblem beside the air, above the earth. “The people of the Water Tribe are capable of adapting to many things. They have a deep sense of community and love that holds them together through anything.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Zuko questioned.

“It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If you take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale. Understanding others, the other elements, and the other nations will help you become whole.” For emphasis, Iroh drew lines to separate the symbols he had created and then traced a circle around them.

“All this four elements talk is sounding like Avatar stuff,” the younger man commented.

“It is the combination of the four elements in one person that makes the Avatar so powerful. But it can make you more powerful, too. You see the technique I'm about to teach you is one I learned by studying the waterbenders.”

His uncle had then taught him the technique he had created to redirect lightning. The repeated motion, over and over of feeling his own energy flow from his hand and shoulders to his stomach and out the other side was calming, like meditation. As he felt the energy flow, he thought about all the rage and pain he held inside him. It was making him tired, it was destructive, it was… not worth it anymore.

He had to let it go. 

He thought about the Avatar and how no matter what, he always failed. Yes, he understood that the kid was the Avatar, but still. His failure had fueled his rage and hatred.

He thought about his mother, her abandonment, leaving him to a life of hell in the Fire Nation Palace, having no one to turn to anymore. Her leaving had been one of the hardest things he had faced as a child.

He thought about his sister and her disdain, disgust in him. Her abilities with firebending had made her the favourite and given her a superiority complex so wide that she had become bitter, twisted and awful. Instead of anger, he felt pity for her now; she had been practically groomed to become the insane sociopath she was.

He thought about his father and his treatment of him all his life. Discarded like he was yesterday’s old lunch, regarded as inferior, as constantly weak. His disappointment had been the scariest thing Zuko had ever faced, until the Agni Kai, where his father had challenged him for speaking out of turn in a war council. Of course, a fully trained and mastered firebender, the Fire Lord himself, had bested a fifteen-year-old boy. He had actually thrown him out, banished from the Fire Nation for his inferiority and given an impossible task to achieve if he ever wanted to go home.

He thought about himself. Everything that had happened in his life up until that point had made him into the person he was. It had been drilled into him from very young that he was worthless, that he was a failure and would amount to nothing. So much so that that was how he thought of himself. 

He thought about her...

He took a step back from his uncle, and with a few movements of his hands, he produced lightning for the first time.

They made the decision to travel to Ba Sing Se, where they were confident that Azula and the Fire Nation wouldn’t be able to find them. Iroh caught up with some members of the Order of the White Lotus, a secret society for avid lovers of knowledge, truth and Pai Sho. No matter what the club did in their spare time, they were well-connected individuals and soon, Iroh and Zuko both had papers and passports under the names they had been travelling by, Lee and Mushi. They had crossed into the city by ferry, where Zuko had met the odd group called the Freedom Fighters and their leader Jet. Jet had tried recruiting him, but he had declined, not wanting to leave his uncle, and not wanting any trouble in Ba Sing Se. This was a chance at a new life for them both, one that didn’t hinge on the fickle whims of his father and sister. 

His uncle had found them a job in a tiny tea shop and a small apartment. It wasn’t much, certainly not the Fire Nation Palace or the ship, but it was enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who wants to guess who the last ‘energy-bender’ was? This will become super important too!


	15. Training and Books

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.
> 
> I want to thank everyone again for all the comments and kudos! It really is a great motivator to keep writing XD
> 
> Enjoy the next chapter!

She had been working on it for a while now, it had been on her list of things to do back at Hogwarts. She had gathered the ingredients she would need, but hadn’t begun any other process. She had taken the leaf out of her mouth a few weeks ago, mixed the concoction and stored it in a safe space in her charmed bag. She had cast the spell on herself every morning and every night. And now there was an electrical storm.

“ _Amato Animo Animato Animagus,_ ” she chanted for the last time. She looked up at the beginnings of the storm and gulped down the potion, the others watching from a distance away.

“So, what are we waiting for exactly?” Toph asked.

At first, nothing happened. But then, bones crushed and reformed, reshaping themselves into something different, fur sprouted from her limbs and she fell onto all four paws… Wait, paws? She looked down and she did indeed have paws. She took a tentative step forward and other than wobbling a bit, not used to walking on all fours, she was okay. Nothing hurt, nothing seemed to be missing… She turned to everyone else and, other than Toph, they were gaping!

She slowly made her way over to them and sat down on her hind legs - that was odd to think - and glanced up at them. Aang recovered first, “You… You’re… an animal? Aika? Are you in there?” She gave a big nod of her animal head. “Okay, so you’re a tiger…”

“A tiger?” Toph asked.

Getting back up, the tiger walked back inside the tent and over to the mirror she had conjured before, to see what she looked like. She was a tiger alright, but her fur colouring was a bit different than normal. Where normal tigers were orange, or even white, her fur had taken on more of the colour of her hair… so it looked more like a reddish-brown at the moment. Her ice-blue eyes had remained the same as well. Well, now that she knew her form, she concentrated on reverting back to her human form again. It took her a while, but eventually, she won the battle of wills against her own body and slowly started transforming back into herself.

When she looked human again, she cast a diagnostic charm on herself, just to ensure that every body part was where it should be. It came back clear.

She was an animagus now.

“Today's the day!” Aang shouted as he emerged from his room in the tent. Aika and Katara were already eating in the kitchen. “Can you believe it? After all that time searching for a teacher, I'm finally starting earthbending!” His shouts woke Sokka, who emerged from his room with hair in disarray, a blanket over his shoulders, sleepy eyes and a scowl on his face. Momo chittered and climbed to sit on his head, which made him frown even more. “And this place, it's perfect, don't you think? Sokka?” Sokka grumbled and glared at Aang with tired eyes. “Oh, you're still sleeping, huh?” Sokka again grumbled and went to go back into his room. “Sorry.”

Suddenly, the ground shook, causing them all to look over at the entrance to the tent, toward the source of the rumbling. Dust particles flew into the tent and as the dust cleared, Toph was standing there, with her left hand raised in the air.

“Goooood morning, earthbending student!” she called loudly, walking back inside, obviously wanting breakfast by the way she made a beeline for the kitchen. Aika placed a bowl of porridge in front of her. 

Excitedly, Aang shouted back, “Good morning, Sifu Toph!”

When Aang bowed slightly to Toph, Aika saw Katara frown. Disappointedly, the waterbender said, “Hey, you never called me Sifu Katara.”

Aang scratched the back of his head. “Well, if you think I should…”

Sokka suddenly groaned from his spot by his bedroom door, grumbling at the loudness. Aang looked at him in wonder, and Toph had a smile on her face. “Sorry, Snoozles, we'll do our earthbending as,” she whispered slightly, though with clear amusement in her voice, “quietly as we can.” The teen just grumbled more and went back to his room, slamming the door as his show of irritation. They all laughed.

“Oh Toph, I have something for you!” The energy-bender attached one of her tracking bracelets to Toph’s hand and watched as she traced her fingers over it in appreciation. She had created a black metal band with etchings of the earthbending symbol. Toph expressed her thanks for it and went back to eating.

Aika thought the airbender would jump out of his skin in excitement. “So what move are you going to teach me first?” he asked Toph. He stretched out his right arm, his fist clenched, and brought it down like a hammer. “Rock-a-lanche?” He brought his left clenched fist to his right elbow, while his right arm was bent upward, the fist also clenched and trembled with the motion. “The Trembler? Oh, maybe I could learn to make a whirlpool out of land!” He stretched both arms over his head and started to spin around.

To halt his movement, Toph put a hand on his chest. “Let's start with ‘move a rock’,” she suggested while making the hand gesture.

Aang clapped excitedly. “Sounds good, sounds good!” He looked like he was going to drag the earthbender outside at that second, so Aika placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Breakfast first, Aang. I doubt you will be able to concentrate much on an empty stomach, and Toph doesn’t look like she’ll go easy on you.” He looked at her sheepishly and glanced at his earthbending master. 

The girl in question looked up at them with an absolutely fake angelic expression on her face. “Who? Me?”

Aika smirked, “You ain’t fooling anyone, Sifu Toph.” 

Watching Aang try to earthbend had resulted in quite a few sniggers on behalf of Aika and Sokka. Poor Aang was having a very hard time with ‘move a rock’, as Toph had put it. The first time he had tried, he had gone flying backwards, Sokka commented, “Rock beats airbender!” Meanwhile, Katara had asked Aika to conjure a small pond so she could practice her waterbending and keep an eye on Toph’s and Aang’s lesson. 

Sokka agreed to keep Aika company while she practised her animagus form, seeing as he didn’t have any bending to practice. After a while, they got bored so decided to explore, Aika in her tiger form to get a feel for how to move properly. As they walked, Sokka mentioned, “You know, I think we should give Tiger Aika a name of her own.” The tiger looked at him with a deadpan expression, or as much as a tiger could anyway. “No really. We can’t call you Tiger. So how about...Fluffy?” She growled menacingly. “Okay, not Fluffy. Hmmm….” He kept suggesting names that insulted her sensibilities and she kept growling. “Stop growling at me!” He huffed. “I’ll think of something.”

The tigress rolled her eyes. She had the strangest urge to start licking her paws and figured it was time to change back. Just as she was about to do so, Sokka declared proudly, “I’ll teach you how to hunt!” There was a small fissure in the ground ahead of them and he took a step and promptly fell in, getting himself completely stuck. The teen boy didn’t know how a tiger could laugh, but the one in front of him managed. It was a strange mixture of grunts, growls, huff and small roars. “Aika…”

She looked up at him again and fell over onto her side, rolling onto her back, literally rolling on the floor laughing. When she had gotten her fix, she changed back into her human form, wiping her eyes from laughter tears. “Sokka, how you managed to be the eldest male in your tribe and no one starved to death is beyond me,” she said, still chuckling here and there. He scowled at her, but from his position, it was cute, not threatening. “Alright, wait here, I’ll go get Toph to get you out.” She laughed again, “Of course, you’ll wait here! Where are you meant to go?” She ran back in the direction of their camp.

“Oh hardy har har. Wait… Couldn’t you get me out of here? Aika? Aika?!”

Aika got back to their set up just as she heard, “Yeah, you are sorry! If you're not tough enough to stop the rock, then you can at least give it the pleasure of smashing you instead of jumping out of the way like a jelly-boned wimp! Now, do you have what it takes to face that rock like an earthbender?”

“No, I don't think I do.”

“Aang, it's no big deal. You'll take a break and try earthbending again when you're ready. Besides, you still have a lot of waterbending to work on. Okay?” Katara placated.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

Toph scoffed, ““Yeah, whatever, go splash around until you feel better.”

The eldest girl didn’t really have anything to say about all this, so she called Toph over while Katara and Aang started work on waterbending. “Hey Toph, I need your help.”

The blind girl looked slightly stunned, “You? Need my help?”

“Yeah, Sokka got…” she chuckled, “He got stuck in a crack in the earth.”

“Wow… Just as I thought he couldn’t be any more useless,” the earthbender mocked. 

“That’s not very nice Toph! He… He throws a mean boomerang!” she tried, but failed to keep the laughter out of her voice.

The girl waved her hand, “Eh. He is definitely a source of entertainment. Now, where is he?”

Toph inspected the earth around Sokka and grinned, “You really are an idiot aren’t ya?”

Sokka scowled at Aika who was laughing again. “This is not funny.” Problem was, he had a baby moose-lion sleeping on his head. A really cute baby moose-lion. 

“Toph, wait, please don’t get him out yet. I need to get my camera! This is just too good!” 

The girl turned back at the energy-bender. “What’s a camera?”

“It's a device that takes a snapshot of a scene. Like a painting only you don't have to sit still for hours. I’ll be back in a jiff! I’m going to try something else I’ve been practising.” Aika concentrated and suddenly, there was a loud CRACK and the girl had vanished. Sokka just gaped at the spot where she had been and Toph had covered her ears from such a loud noise. About twenty seconds and another loud CRACK later, Aika had returned, holding a bulky box with a circle of glass on the front. She smiled at the Sokka and the baby moose-lion, which had not woken from its sleep with the crack sounds.

Aika looked through the camera, focused on Sokka and said, “Smile!” He scowled. “Perfect!” 

A sudden flash of light startled Sokka into blinking rapidly, trying to get rid of the white spots dancing in his eyes. “What was that?!” He watched in fascination as a piece of paper was spurt out of the box. Aika grabbed it and started waving it in the air like she was trying to dry ink. After a minute or so, Aika stared down at it and grinned widely. She turned it to show it to Sokka. On the funny paper, he could see an image of himself, with the baby moose-lion on his head, scowling. No wonder Aika had laughed. He looked ridiculous! Then, the picture moved. He saw himself scowling over and over again, while the baby moose-lion twitched its tail in its sleep. “It’s moving!” he yelled.

“Yep! I’ll explain what that is when we get you out of there.”

“Hold on,” Toph stopped. “Maybe this could be a learning opportunity for Aang.” They left Sokka in the hole and he was in no way thrilled about it.

It was white… So very white. There was nothing. She stepped forward and the ground beneath her rippled like she was walking through water. But there was nothing. Still white. She stepped again and again, started running, the ripples the only thing indicating she was moving at all. 

_Aika…_ She skidded to a stop and looked around. Nothing. No one. 

_Who’s there?_ she cried.

_Turn around…_

It was… her. A mirror image of herself but… not. She studied this girl. Same auburn hair, same white dress… Same facial features, same body shape. Her eyes. She stepped closer to her odd twin and squinted… She had different colour eyes. Instead of the ice-blue she was so used to seeing, they were an odd cyan hue that she had never seen on someone before. The cyan-eyed Aika stepped back and smirked before she raised her arms and rose a few feet in the air. Aika could feel the magic, the energy pouring off her in waves, pressing down on her, forcing her to her knees. 

The cyan colour enveloped the other Aika until it took over the white...

She gasped as she sat up in bed, blinking the sleep out of her eyes and looking around at her room in the tent. She shivered, but she wasn’t cold. Struggling out of bed, she hurried to the full-length mirror beside the closet and sighed deeply in pure relief when she saw her eyes.

Ice-blue. Not cyan.

“It was only a dream,” she whispered to no one. 

What was another lie to tell herself?

Aang sat cross-legged on the ground in a prairie, which overlooked the vast open savanna landscape. The area around them was mostly barren save for small shoots of grass which bent in the small breeze. The ground in front of the Avatar was littered with holes. The rest of the group stood behind him, waiting for the boy to do something, anything. The Avatar held a thin wooden flute in both hands.

Looking around, Sokka asked, “What's out here?”

Toph put her hand on the ground, sensing everything in the earth. “A lot, actually. There's hundreds of little…”

The sitting boy whipped around and shushed the blind girl, “Shh! I know you can see underground, but don't ruin the surprise. Just watch.” He lifted the flute to his lips and blew a note. A small groundhog-type creature popped out of one of the holes in the ground and mimicked the note. “Yeah!” He played another note and another groundhog mimicked it. “I'm putting an orchestra together.”

Sokka made eccentric hand motions while he looked on with annoyance, “Orchestra, huh? Well, la-di-da.” Three groundhogs popped out of the ground and sang descending notes. Momo, the playful lemur, jumped into a hole, trying to catch the groundhogs. The group watched as Aang played notes, getting the groundhogs to pop out and harmonize, while Momo played his own version of whack-a-mole. The next note broke Sokka’s limited patience; he ran up to Aang and plugged the flute with his finger, causing nothing to play. As Aang's cheeks swelled with air, the Avatar looked at Sokka with a sad expression. Aika chuckled and Katara giggled.

Annoyed, the older boy said, “This is great and all, but don't we have more important things to worry about? We should be making plans.”

“We did make plans. We're all picking mini-vacations,” Toph reminded him.

“There's no time for vacations!”

“I'm learning the elements as fast as I can. I practice hard every day with Toph and Katara. I've been training my arrow off!”

Katara walked over to stand next to Aang. “Yeah, what's wrong with having a little fun in our downtime?”

And that was how they ended up in the middle of the damn desert trying to find a damn library. Sokka, of course, wanted more information on the Fire Nation and was willing to go to crazy lengths to get it. 

After they had been flying for a while, in true form, Toph pointed over the side of the saddle with excitement and exclaimed, “There it is!” Everybody sans Aika looked to where Toph was pointing, but they could only see sand dunes. Aang, Katara, and Sokka glared at Toph in annoyance for tricking them. “That's what it will sound like when one of you spots it,” she said, waving her hand in front of her face with a blank grin to remind them of the fact that she is blind. Aika laughed at them all.

It wasn’t long after that that they did indeed spot the tower of the library, but Aika chose to stay outside with Toph. She didn’t need anything from inside. Once they had all gone in, she conjured an umbrella to shelter them from the sun, grabbed some cups from her charmed bag and conjured some cold water for them to drink. Relaxing in the sand, Aika asked the girl beside her, “Hey, can you sand-bend?” Toph frowned. “It’s earth right, so you should be able to bend it.”

With a determined expression on her face, Toph got up and began to practice. It was lucky for Aika that the girl couldn’t see the smile on her face, or she would have thrown sand in her face for the easy manipulation. After a short while, Toph got complete control over it and she beamed. “I got it!”

“Well done, Toph! That’s awesome!” The new sand-bender sat back down in her chair and sipped on her water. A moment of silence passed before Aika broke it warily. “Hey Toph?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, and I don’t want to get your hopes up or anything, but I was wondering... if I asked if you wanted me to look through my books for something to help you see things… Would you want me to?”

Toph swivelled in her chair to face in the direction of the energy-bender. “You can do that?” she asked, her voice full of hope and joy.

“I think so. There is this thing called Legilimency, it’s basically mind-reading. The premise of it is to cast a projection of yourself into someone else’s mind so you can see their memories, see their thoughts and such. It might be possible for me to be able to project more than just myself. I might be able to project images of things and because I go straight into your brain, I bypass your eyesight. It would be more like you remembering how things look. Given time I might find an actual solution for your eyesight, but- Ooof!”

She had her arms full of a tough little earthbender. “Yes! Please! Please try! I want to remember seeing things!”

Aika hugged the girl back. “I’ll get started on my reading tonight.”

It was a little while later when there was a deep rumble and the sand started shifting beneath them. Toph looked at the single unburied tower, “Library sinking.” She ran to it, “Library sinking!” The girl punched both fists into the tower to stop it from sinking. Her feet slipped in the sand, but with her sand-bending practice, she was able to solidify it without much effort.

Lending her energy, Aika pushed it through to Toph, helping the girl in the only way she knew how. However, then the sandbenders arrived on some sort of sand sailing boats and surrounded the sky bison. “You keep at it with the library. I’ll deal with these knuckleheads.” Toph nodded solemnly, grunting in effort when Aika pulled back her energy.

The sandbenders launched ropes and grappling hooks at Appa, but Aika just knocked them away. The bison growled and roared at the sandbenders, who were confused as to why their ropes suddenly changed course. Aika climbed onto Appa’s saddle and stood tall. “Oi! Piss off, you thieving vultures. No one is stealing our bison!” The sandbenders laughed, thinking she was joking, and attacked. Aika blocked every single thing they threw at her and knocked every single one of them on their asses for their efforts. Then, for good measure, she exploded one of their sand-boats.

They looked up at her with something akin to fear and the leader said, “Men, this prize isn’t worth it. Let’s go!” Getting onto their remaining sand-boats, they ran away with their tails tucked firmly between their legs.

“Well, that was easy,” she remarked to herself.

Toph heard her and shouted, “If that was so easy, you mind giving me a hand with this then?”

“Oh sorry!” Aika placed a hand on Toph’s shoulder again and pushed her energy back into the girl. Toph instantly straightened and no longer looked as strained as she had before. When Sokka, Katara and Aang fell out of the top of the tower, Toph let go of the library, panting and exhausted. Aika pushed a little more energy into the earth bender before looking at the other three.

“Where’s that professor?” she asked. Sokka shook his head sadly. It was a sad thing, but since she didn’t know him, Aika didn’t really dwell on it. Seeing that there was nothing left here, they all climbed onto Appa and took off. Handing the earthbender some more water, Aika frowned, “Toph was holding onto that library for ages, preventing it from sinking. What was so important that you didn’t get out as soon as possible?”

“We found something for the war effort!” Sokka announced proudly. “There’s a day in the year when firebenders lose their powers!”

“Oh, you mean a solar eclipse?”

Sokka’s eyes bugged out of his head and his jaw dropped, while Katara and Aang just looked at their older sister with a stunned expression. The eldest boy shouted, “You knew about this and didn’t tell us?!”

Aika shrugged, “It’s not bloody hard to figure out. A lunar eclipse drains waterbenders, so a solar eclipse would drain firebenders. But that still doesn’t explain why Toph had to hold onto that library for so long.” Toph smiled smugly, glad someone was giving her the recognition she deserved for her efforts.

“There was this dial and we had to turn it constantly to try and find out when the next solar eclipse was,” Aang explained.

Aika still didn’t see why that would delay them. “It’s on the first of August, oh I’m sorry, the eighth month for you guys.”

“How do you know that?!” Sokka exploded.

Aika looked at him with a puzzled expression. “Um… I am - was - a witch. A lot of my devices are based on the movement of the moon, stars and planets in relation to the energy of the earth. Some spells need a full moon or a half moon and so on. Admittedly, astronomy is not my best subject, but I do have an astronomical clock in the library of the tent. I recalibrated it for this world when I got a chance.”

“You’re telling me you had this information, information we angered a spirit and almost died for, in the tent?!”

“Why are you shouting, Sokka?”

He just spluttered nonsensical words, waving his arms about in anger, grumbled and finally crossed arms and settled into a pout.

That night, when they made camp, Aika brought out the books on Legilimency and studied. She was determined to help Toph.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the idea of projecting using Legilimency when Snape ended up watching Harry's memories as if he were in them and visa versa when Harry dropped into the memory of James Potter humiliating Snape. If they could project themselves into a memory, then perhaps there is a way to project more than that. And it doesn't matter that Toph is blind, considering the Legilimency spell doesn't always need eye contact.


	16. On the way to Ba Sing Se

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.

White again… It was always so white… She hated it. She stepped forward again but this time, the ripples in the white water started to turn blue, a deep royal blue, unlike anything she had ever seen. It spread out as far as she could see, contrasting with the white of the what may be the ceiling or the sky above her. 

As she gazed down at the entrancing blue, she caught faint movement, shadows in the water. Something… multiple somethings were snaking their way towards her, veins of green light infiltrating the blue and spreading out. She didn’t like it. As the green veins crept closer and closer, she spun around to see if she could escape them, but she was surrounded. 

Closer and closer they crept ominously until one of the green veins touched her bare feet-

She woke up struggling for air. These dreams were getting worse.

The team was currently taking a short rest stop at a small waterfall pond. Sokka was still pouting and ignoring Aika as he surveyed a map he had stolen from the library. Toph was sitting with her feet in the water, moving it back and forth chatting with Aika. Aang was swimming in the pond and he disappeared underwater for a moment and waterbended an ice cube around himself for amusement.

Katara, at the top of the lake near the waterfall, shouted excitedly, “Waterbending bomb! Yeah!” She jumped into the water, and the resulting splash sent Aang flying out of the water, breaking his ice prison, and soaking Toph, Aika, Sokka and the map which he tried to protect. Aika waved her wand to dry herself and Toph.

Sarcastically, Sokka said, “Sure, five-thousand-year-old maps from the spirit library. Just splash some water on 'em.”

“Sorry,” Katara replied sheepishly, as she wrung her hair out. She then bent the water off the map.

Aika rolled her eyes at their antics and turned back to Toph. “Okay, now the key thing here is that it is going to take time. I’m not a master at this. I learned how to block people from attacking my mind at a young age, not to be the attacker. So it’s going to be slow going until we get the hang of it.”

Toph grinned, “I gotcha!”

“It’s also going to give you a headache until we can do it properly.”

“I can take it. I’m tough.”

“I know you are Toph. I’m not disputing that. But I want to tell you so you can prepare yourself for this.” Aika had a concerned look on her face, not that the girl could see it.

Toph was so determined. “Let’s do this.”

“Okay.” She took a step back and pointed her wand, “ _Legilimens._ ”

Black. It was all black. And then grey. Lines radiating from herself to see shapes, outlines. And it was loud, so very loud. So much noise. Concentrating, she formed a little projection of herself in the blackness. “Toph?” she called out into the darkness. “Can you hear me?”

A shape formed in front of her, a black outline of a short girl, but no face, no colour. She had never seen herself and didn’t know how to form her own shape. “Aika?” the outline said.

“Yes, Toph. I’m here. It’s me.”

The outline gaped at her. “I… I… I can _see_ you!”

Aika blinked and suddenly she was in her own body, back in the colourful world and exhausted. She bent down, placing her hand on her knees and sitting on the riverbank next to Toph to catch her breath. She glanced over at the earthbender, who had tears streaming down her face. Wiping them with her sleeve roughly, like she was ashamed she was crying, she said brokenly, “I saw, Aika. Is that really you? Is that what you look like?”

“What did you see Toph?” She hoped she got it right.

“I don’t know how to describe it really. I’ve never seen colours before. You had hair that seemed to be what fire feels like, hot and bright. Pretty features, but I only have my own mother to compare to since she let me feel her face. And a dress or a tunic.”

Aika could have whooped in joy and danced a jig if she wasn’t so tired. “Yes! My hair is a funny mix between red and brown, but it's getting more to the red side lately. My dress was green! And did you manage to look at my eyes?” The girl nodded. “They are blue. I have blue eyes.”

Toph breathed, “Red, green and blue… I saw red, green and blue today…” She tackled Aika in a hug that suffocated the older girl. Aika didn’t care. She let her.

Aang popped his head out of the water, confused when he saw his hard-ass Sifu Toph squeezing the life out of his older sister. “Uh… What’s going on?”

“Aika helped me see!”

Katara and Sokka’s heads snapped over to them as well. “What?’ Sokka asked. When Toph let go, Aika cleared her throat and explained what she was trying to do to help the blind earthbender. They were so happy for Toph that it had worked. Aika assured that with more practice, she could show her a lot more. 

When they had all calmed down again, Aang turned to Sokka. “So, did you figure out what route we're going to take?” the airbender asked.

The teen nodded, “Okay, we just got out of the desert, so we must be around here. And we need to go to Ba Sing Se, which is here. It looks like the only passage connecting the south to the north is this sliver of land called the Serpent's Pass.”

“Why do we care about that? We have Appa, we can just fly there.” The bison in question groaned at Toph’s mention of his name. 

“I know, but it might be easier for us to follow the pass over, so we can keep in the right direction.” He looked up at everyone and declared, “Okay, let’s pack up and move out. To Ba Sing Se we go. No more distractions.”

Suddenly, three refugees arrived at the pond. Sokka facepalmed, knowing that this will be a distraction. “Hello there, fellow refugees!” the man called.

“So, you guys are headed to Ba Sing Se, too?” Aang asked them kindly.

“Sure are. We're trying to get there before my wife Ying has her baby,” the man gestured towards the heavily pregnant woman. 

Katara smiled, “Great! We can travel over the Serpent's Pass together.”

The three refugees looked up in shock. “The Serpent's Pass? Only the truly desperate take that deadly route!” the other refugee exclaimed.

Toph scowled, “Deadly route.” She punched Sokka in the arm. “Great pick, Sokka!”

“It’s not like we would have been walking it!” the boy protested, rubbing his arm.

The husband suggested, “You should come with us to Full Moon Bay. Ferries take refugees across the lake. It's the fastest way to Ba Sing Se.”

“And it's hidden, so the Fire Nation can't find it,” Ying added.

Aang didn’t want to let the refugees travel alone considering Ying was pregnant, so they agreed to escort the refugees to Full Moon Bay. The ferry depot was packed with refugees. Long lines extended for tickets and even longer ones for the next ferries going across. Discreetly, Aika cast a notice-me-not over the refugee’s bags so they wouldn’t be stolen, eliminating the need for anyone to go over Serpent’s Pass on foot. She also had no interest in helping a woman give birth. 

However, just as they were about to leave, someone came up behind them, “Tickets and passports please.”

Sokka looked back at the girl in uniform who had addressed them, “Is there a problem?”

“Yeah, I got a problem with you! I've seen your type before. Probably sarcastic, think you're hilarious and let me guess, you're travelling with the Avatar.”

The teen boy frowned, “Do I know you?”

“You mean you don't remember? Maybe you'll remember this!” She kissed Sokka on the cheek.

“Suki!” he shouted, embracing her.

Katara grinned, “You look so different without your makeup! And the new outfit.”

Suki waved the comment away, “That crabby lady makes all the security guards wear them. And look at you, sleeveless guy. Been working out?”

Puffing up proudly, Sokka mentioned, trying to act nonchalant, “Ahhh, I'll grab a tree branch and do a few chin touches every now and then. Nothing major.” Aika snickered at him and he glared at her. Suki didn’t seem to notice.

“Are the other Kyoshi Warriors around?” Aang queried, looking around. 

“Yeah. After you left Kyoshi, we wanted to find a way to help people. We ended up escorting some refugees and we've been here ever since.” Momo jumped up next to her. “Hi, Momo! Good to see you too!” She scratched the lemur behind his ear in greeting. “So why are you guys getting tickets for the ferry? Wouldn't you just fly across on Appa?”

“Oh, we weren’t buying tickets. We just escorted some refugees here ourselves,” Aika chimed in.

Suki nodded, “Alright then, don’t let me keep you. I’ve got to get back to the other Kyoshi warriors.”

Sokka asked the rest of the gang for a few moments alone with Suki. They walked back to the entrance to Full Moon Bay to wait for him and when he finally emerged from the tunnel, his lips were swollen and his clothes a bit more rumpled than usual. Aika snickered again and Katara grinned, “Well done, big brother!”

Sokka blushed crimson, “Ah no, it wasn’t… We didn’t… We just kissed okay!” Aika’s snickers turned into full laughter, and everyone else joined in with her. Sokka’s blush deepened even more and spread to his ears. “Haha, let’s just get on Appa and go.”

The ride to Ba Sing Se was quiet and relaxing. They followed the ferry route toward the city and soon enough, the giant walls of Ba Sing Se were visible on the horizon. It was Katara who first noticed it. “What is that?!”

Below them several Fire Nation tanks rumbled across the terrain towards the Outer Wall of the city, a large metal machine following close behind, all puffing out huge amounts of smoke. They watched as several sections of the machine extended forward, releasing steam as spikes were driven into the ground. It made for an intimidating sight. Beyond that, they could see that the earthbenders of Ba Sing Se were digging trenches and launching attacks against the tanks and the machine, but not even a scratch was left on the metal.

“It’s a drill,” Aika said. “I don’t suppose you know how to bend metal, Toph?”

The earthbender shook her head. “Why would I know how to do that?”

“Metal is just refined earth. You could probably do it with the right concentration,” Aika mused, trying to get the idea into her head. 

“Can you work on the new earthbending techniques later?” Sokka shouted. “Right now, we’ve got a serious problem! That thing is heading towards the wall!”

“Can we stop it?” Katara questioned doubtfully.

“Aang, take us to the wall. We can see if they need help,” the eldest girl instructed. Aang nodded and urged Appa up to the wall. 

As soon as they landed, one of the guards yelled, “What are you people doing here? Civilians aren't allowed on the wall!”

“I'm the Avatar. Take us to whoever is in charge,” Aang commanded. 

They were taken to a portion of the Outer Wall where a roof rose overhead, supported by tall arches. An Earth Kingdom general sat behind a desk and said happily, “It is an honour to welcome you to the Outer Wall, young Avatar, but your help is not needed.”

The group was surprised. “Not needed?” Aang asked.

The general nodded calmly, “Not needed. I have the situation under control. I assure you the Fire Nation cannot penetrate this wall. Many have tried to break through it, but none have succeeded.”

Toph commented, “What about the Dragon of the West? He got in.”

The general was slightly taken aback. “Well ... uh, technically yes, but he was quickly expunged.” He cleared his throat before confidently pronouncing, “Nevertheless, that is why the city is named Ba Sing Se. It's the ‘impenetrable city’. They don't call it Na Sing Se.” He laughed but quickly turned serious. “That means ‘penetrable city’.”

The sarcasm practically dripped off Toph’s next remark, “Yeah, thanks for the tour, but we still got the drill problem.”

“Not for long. To stop it, I've sent an elite platoon of earthbenders called the Terra Team.”

Sokka raised his finger to his chin, and said appreciatively, “That's a good group name. Very catchy.” He got this far away look in his eyes, like he was trying to come up with something. Aika smacked him upside the head gently to snap him out of his reverie.

They all heard some sort of commotion below them and hurried to the side of the wall to get a better look. The earthbenders, the Terra Team, had tried to wedge large earth spikes into the metal shell of the drill to halt it. However, the drill's segments separated, reducing the columns to crumbles. They watched as the Terra Team narrowly managed to conjure earth shields to defend themselves against an assault of flying daggers hurled by someone on the drill. Mai. She and Ty Lee were sliding down the shell of the drill, both landing gracefully on the ground. Ty Lee effortlessly managed to defeat the earthbenders through an acrobatic display, utilizing her chi blocking technique.

Upon witnessing the defeat of the Terra Team, the general beside them flailed his arms in a panic and proclaimed, “We're doomed!”

Sokka slapped him in the face. “Get a hold of yourself, man!”

Rubbing his cheek, the man said, “You're right. I'm sorry.”

“Maybe you'd like the Avatar's help now?” Toph mentioned casually.

“Yes, please,” the general whimpered, meekly standing before the Avatar.

They all looked down at the drill progressively getting closer to the walls of Ba Sing Se. “The question is, how are we going to stop that thing?” They all turn their heads to Sokka and Aika.

“Why are you all looking at us?” Sokka queried.

“You're the idea guys,” Toph noted.

Aika raised an eyebrow but Sokka complained, “So I'm the only one who can ever come up with a plan? That's a lot of pressure.”

Katara rolled her eyes. “And you’re also the complaining guy.”

“That part I don't mind.”

“You aren’t the only one Sokka. Aika comes up with some plans too sometimes,” Aang defended his older sister. “So… either of you got anything?”

Aika smiled, “I think I do, Aang.”

“It’s so dark down here, I can’t see a thing,” Sokka commented.

“Oh no, what a nightmare!” Toph mocked.

“Sorry.” A pause. “Your plan is brilliant! I eventually would have come up with it myself, since I’m brilliant too, but it’s still awesome.”

“Hey, would the spark of brilliance shut up? We should be coming up underneath the thing now.”

The earth above them shifted and they could see light again. And metal. Lots of metal. It was Sokka who spotted the opening in the machine. Toph decided she wanted to try and stop the drill from outside, considering she wouldn’t be able to use her seismic sense inside the metal machine. Quickly, they found an empty room full of pipes and Aika cast, “ _Bombarda._ ” One of the pipes exploded and a steel cap blew off from the pressure.

They all hid to wait for one of the engineers with a set of schematics to appear. Five minutes later, that’s what happened. Putting a finger to her lips to signal the rest to stay silent, Aika crept up behind him and whispered, “ _Confundo._ ” The man instantly became confused and he blinked several times as she grabbed the schematics out of his pocket, but he didn't move to defend the plans or himself. One checked that she had everything, she said, “ _Obliviate._ ” His posture became relaxed and his eyes blanked out. “You forgot your plans in the room you came from.” She backed away from the man into a darker corner and released the charm. 

He blinked rapidly again, looked around and whispered, “Damn, I forgot the plans in the office.” He ran back out of the room and the group was alone again. They quickly moved to another unoccupied room of pipes, just in case the engineer came back to fix what Aika had broken. 

Aika handed the plans to Sokka, who smiled appreciatively. She said to them, “Hopefully, it’ll take them a while to realise that we are here now. No one to raise an alarm.”

The elder boy opened the documents and studied them for a few seconds. “It looks like the drill is made up of two main structures. There's the inner mechanism where we are now and the outer shell. The inner part and the outer part are connected by these braces. If we cut through them, the entire thing will collapse.”

“Let me see them, Sokka.” He handed them to the energy-bender. “You’re right, but that will take forever. Look at this bit.” She pointed to the top of the outer layer and its connection points to the inner layer. “The outer shell is almost twice as thick as the inner, which means it’s twice as heavy. If we weaken the support beams, a massive blow from the outside will make it all collapse in on itself.”

The teen beamed at her. “That’s brilliant!” He quickly took control of the group. “Okay, we’ll move in groups of two. Aang, Katara, you guys can make water sharp and cut through the metal. Aika, you have something that will do the same thing right?” The girl nodded. “Okay, so I’ll go with you. Remember, you don’t have to cut through the entire beam, just enough that it will crack under the pressure.”

They made their way to the support beams, but before Aang and Katara could begin their first beam, Aika reminded, “Whatever you do, stay as quiet as possible and out of sight. No one knows we’re here and we want it to stay that way. Once you guys are done, get out of here. Katara, get to Toph, Aang, meet me on the top of this thing.”

With serious expressions, the Avatar and the waterbender nodded and got to work. Aika and Sokka made their way to the next support beam over. Moving in opposite directions, the teams worked their way around the structure, weakening it. Aika was just finishing carving through the last of her beams when they heard noises, voices echoing and coming towards them. Quickly, Aika cast a disillusion charm on herself and Sokka, keeping a hold of his hand so she wouldn’t lose him. Shadows appeared on the ground and hovered there for a few tense moments before they disappeared.

Once they were gone, Aika cast the final _defodio_ charm and then deactivated the disillusions. Staying in the darkened shadows of the machinery, they moved toward the exits, when suddenly, shouts and yells echoed through the metal. When they heard Katara and Aang’s voices followed by Azula’s, they knew the group had been made. Pulling Sokka into a storage room, she locked the door with a _colloportus_ and then erected a weak silencing ward due to her haste. 

Whispering because she didn’t know how much sound the ward would block, she told him, “Aang and Katara have been made. They’ll be expecting someone else as well. We are going to go find them and you will get Katara out of here. There are slurry pipeline hatches all over the place. Get to her and get out. Katara can bend the water in them. I’ll get Aang and go help him stop this drill. As soon as we get out of this room, I’m going to disillusion myself so I won’t be seen and then they won’t be looking for me.”

The second he nodded, she pulled down the ward, unlocked the door and disillusioned herself. They both ran in the direction of the shouts and yells from Katara, Aang and Azula. Several other female voices were mixed in as well, but they couldn’t discern them. At a junction in the hallways, Sokka crashed into Katara knocking them both down. Both moaned, “Ow!”

“Sokka!” Aang exclaimed. “Where’s Aika?”

“She’s around, but invisible. Aang, you get to the roof of this thing and crush it. Aika is gonna follow you. Katara, you come with me.” Without another word, they split in different directions. 

Aika lingered a little bit longer and crouched down in a darkened corner. Soon enough, Azula, Ty Lee and Mai came running up to the intersection. “Follow them! The Avatar's mine!” the princess ordered. The other two girls ran after Katara and Sokka and Azula chased after Aang. 

Knowing that Katara and Sokka would be able to handle the other two, especially once Toph found them, Aika followed the princess. She had to make this look natural or… she could wipe her memory. Ah hell… If she did this, it could start to become a habit. Eh, she honestly didn’t give a shit. Aika caught up with Azula as the crazy princess climbed out of the hatch that led outside the drill. She caught Aang saying, “What I'd give to be a metalbender,” just before the firebender hurled a wave of blue fire at the Avatar.

Momo suddenly shrieked and Aang turned just in time to deflect the fire blast. Seeing that as the perfect opportunity, Aika stunned Azula from behind and the firebender collapsed on her side. Aang simply stared, blinking blankly at his fallen foe. Reappearing, Aika twirled her wand in her hand. Aang beamed widely. “Smash this thing, Aang. I‘ve got Azula.”

With one of the boulders that were being hurled off the wall by the Earth Kingdom soldiers, he used airbending to position the boulder over the X mark he had made in the top of the drill. Using earthbending, he cut the rock several times, creating a wedge that fit inside the middle of the hole. Aika watched as he began sprinting toward the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se, scaled up its side by riding an air scooter and, once he arrived at his highest point, rocketed at lightning speed toward the bottom. 

As he propelled himself downward, Aika bent down and obliviated Azula’s memory of the stun, replacing it with a boulder crashing into her. A quick sticking charm prevented the energy-bender from being tossed off the top of the drill forcefully, as Aang leapt up and slammed down on the wedge, creating a large ripple effect. She could feel how the impact caused the braces inside the drill to collapse as the metal warped and shuddered. They could hear the loud crashes and high pitched grinding of twisting metal and gears.

Panting heavily and smiling widely, Aang shouted, “We did it!” He was covered in the slurry created by the drill from when the pipes burst. He ran over to his older sister in his excitement, going to give her a hug, when Aika flicked her wand at him, tsking. He blinked as the sludge vanished from his clothes and body. “Okay, now you can give me a hug.”

He practically tackled her. “We did it, Aika!”

She looked at the stopped drill and the relief on the Earth Kingdom soldier’s faces as they came out to meet them. “We did.”

They found Sokka, Katara and Toph on top of the wall. Toph noticed them first, “Twinkle Toes, Aika!”

“I just want to say, good effort out there today, Team Avatar!” Sokka announced.

Katara was not amused. “Enough with the Team Avatar stuff. No matter how many times you say it, it's not going to catch on.”

“How about…” he pulled out his boomerang, “the Boomer _aang_ Squad! See it's good because it's got "Aang" in it. Boomer _aang_.”

The Avatar grinned, “I kind of like that one.” 

Aika began walking back towards Appa, Katara and Aang following their older sister. “Let's talk about this on our way into the city.”

“The Aang Gang?”

“Sokka…” Katara drawled.

“The Fearsome Fivesome?”

Toph scoffed and trailed after the other three. “You're crazy.”

“What? We're fearsome! Guys? Guys!”

Sokka ran after his odd mismatched family.


	17. Tales of the City of Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.
> 
> This is going to appear odd, I’m integrating the episodes City of Walls and Secrets and Tales of Ba Sing Se. It makes more sense in my story progression because Appa is not missing. Also, this is the one. Aika and Zuko finally acknowledge that this is more than just stolen kisses in between battles.
> 
> P.S. Please don't judge my shitty writing skills in this one.
> 
> Enjoy!

They followed the monorail tracks into the city, watching as the train was pushed forward by two earthbenders and commenting on the genius invention. Aang wasn’t as impressed with it, much preferring the fun he could have on Omashu’s mail delivery system.

Katara looked up and said excitedly, “Look, the Inner Wall! I can't believe we finally made it to Ba Sing Se in one piece.”

Sokka wasn’t so optimistic. “Hey, don't jinx it! We can still be attacked by some giant exploding Fire Nation spoon. Or find out the city's been submerged in an ocean full of killer shrimp!”

Slightly annoyed, yet still jokingly, Toph responded, “You been drinking something funny? Because if you have, start sharing! I want some of these weird hallucinations too.”

“I'm just sayin', weird stuff happens to us,” Sokka commented. 

The city was bloody huge! Katara, Sokka and Aang were in awe. Toph, not so much. When Aika asked the earthbender why she didn’t like the city, she told them, “It's just a bunch of walls and rules. You wait, you'll get sick of it in a couple of days.”

Seeing a small empty field on the outskirts of the city, near the monorail station, they landed Appa. Aika quickly set out some ward stones around the perimeter and set up a strong muggle repelling ward, hoping that this would help the Dai Li stay away from Appa. Not that the bison couldn’t handle himself, but still. She didn’t want the Dai Li to have any sort of upper hand while they were in the Earth Kingdom city. 

“Hey Appa, can you please stay in this field as much as possible when you are on the ground? I made it so most people can’t see you here.” The bison groaned his understanding. “Thank you,” she smiled and gave him a pat on the nose. 

“Okay, so what’s the plan?” Toph asked. Everyone turned to look at Aika.

“So suddenly, I’m the one with the plans? What about Sokka?” No one said anything, just continued to look at her. “Oh alright. Let’s go up to the monorail station and see if we can get another one further into the city or at least closer to the Earth Palace. Oh, and I think I’m going to change my hair colour again. I don’t want to stand out too much here.” Everyone but Toph nodded and Aika proceeded to change into the disguise she had once worn into Omashu when the Fire Nation occupied it. 

Of course, as soon as they got there, a woman with long dark hair billowed in the wind was already standing there, waiting for them to arrive. She approached them with a strange smile on her face and an excited tone of voice, “Hello, my name is Joo Dee! I have been given the great honour of showing the Avatar around Ba Sing Se. And you must be Sokka, Katara, and Toph! Welcome to our wonderful city. Shall we get started?” She looked at Aika and frowned, “I am sorry, but who are you?”

“My name is Isa,” Aika replied. She did not want to give the Dai Li any information and if they had no idea who she was, all the better. Katara and Aang looked at her with puzzled expressions, while Toph and Sokka frowned. They all knew that Aika didn’t do anything without a reason, so they let it go for now. 

“Welcome, Isa,” Joo Dee greeted. “Any friend of the Avatar is a friend of Ba Sing Se. Now, shall we begin the tour?”

Sokka butted in, “We have information about the Fire Nation army that we need to deliver to the Earth King, immediately.”

“Great! Let's begin our tour. And then I'll show you to your new home here. I think you'll like it!” Joo Dee said happily. 

Sokka was now slightly annoyed. “Ugh! Maybe you missed what I said. We need to talk to the king about the War, it's important.”

Joo Dee blinked and a goofy, stupid smile spread on her face. “You're in Ba Sing Se now. Everyone is safe here.”

Toph was right. They had been in the city for about two hours, the weird brainwashed woman was ‘handling’ them as the earthbender put it, and Aika already wanted to get the hell out of here. They concluded the tour in front of a cute little house in the upper ring of the city, but it still looked worse than the tent.

As they were stepping up on the porch of the house, a messenger arrived and handed a scroll to Joo Dee. More good news! Your request for an audience with the Earth King is being processed and should be put through in about a month. Much more quickly than usual!”

Sokka was gobsmacked, “A month?”

That creepy smile made its way back onto her face. “Six to eight weeks, actually.”

Aika ran through her knowledge of what had happened before and arrived at an interesting conclusion. A lot of things would run a bit smoother if they had proof of what the Dai Li were doing to the people of Ba Sing Se when they managed to get their audience with the King. However, she was not going to get the rest of them in on this. They wouldn’t know the meaning of the word subtle if it came up and smacked them in the face. And because of that, she was going to wear a glamour bracelet. They weren’t hard to make; basic glamour bracelets were actually exceptionally easy to make and tweak as the wearer required. They just didn’t work on witches and wizards, so they were useless unless you went to the muggle world. But since no one else was magical in this world, it would do just fine. 

Preparing dinner in this odd excuse for a kitchen in this cottage house, she called everyone in for a family meeting. Casting multiple muffling charms on the house, she explained, “Guys, I get creepy vibes in this city. I’m going to wear a glamour bracelet, but I’ll key you into it.”

“What in the who now?” Sokka questioned. Oh right… Sometimes she forgot… She brought out the bracelet and slipped it on, activating it to change her hair back to brown, “Yeah, I was going to ask about that. Why’d you change your hair and name with that lady?”

“I just don’t want the hassle of having red coloured hair in the Earth Kingdom. And honestly, I’m not comfortable in this place, the woman creeped me out. So a glamour and a fake name. But I’m going to make it so you guys can see through it. I’ll look absolutely normal to you guys, but to everyone else, I’ll look different.” She placed her hand on each of theirs, except Tophs. They blinked a few times and smiled, signalling that they could see her red hair and blue eyes again.

“Okay, so are we going to sit around and to wait to see the Earth King, or are we going to do something about it?” Sokka asked. Aang and Toph were all for knocking down the front door of the palace and demanding that the King listened to them. Katara was a little bit sceptical.

“I think we should hold off for a bit,” the eldest said. “We were ‘handled’ from the second we stepped foot in Ba Sing Se. Someone knew that we were here and sent Joo Dee to intercept us. I think we should try and figure out what is going on first. You’re the one who always says to make a plan, Sokka.”

The water tribe boy grumbled but he couldn’t disagree with that. “Alright. We can gather intel, talk to the locals and such. But if it takes too long, we knock down the palace doors.”

***

**The Tale of Aika**

Without telling the others, since they had their own things they wanted to do and they had no sneaking capabilities whatsoever, Aika snuck into the palace under a disillusion and started her spying. Sometimes, she disguised herself as a palace maid - no one looked twice at the ‘help’, especially with a notice-me-not - and other times, she listened in on the meetings between the Earth King and Long Feng - the head of the Dai Li - or sometimes the meetings between Long Feng and his agents. There was no shortage of dark corners to lurk in. Problem was, because of how much was going on, it was a full-time job on its own. 

She couldn’t help but notice that it would be so easy to simply get rid of these sick people. One tiny, little killing curse and no one would be the wiser… She was certain that everyone would be better off if the head of the Dai Li were to take an AK to the chest. Long Feng was absolutely sick in the head. He ran the city like a thuggish mafia boss. He embezzled from the city’s coffers, which was meant to help the disadvantaged and the refugees. He convinced the King that higher income taxes were necessary because the budget was so low, and therefore he could embezzle more money. He brainwashed women to control the incomers, all the Joo Dee’s, and would use these poor women in other ways as well. It was disgusting. He kept order by getting his agents to racketeer in the lower section of the city. He had innocent people arrested in the name of ‘order’. Some of them were let go, some were executed if they were a threat to his power. One day, he ordered the execution of a minor government official and his whole family because the man was becoming popular in certain influential circles. Of course, he ordered it to look like an accident.

She wrote down names, dates, intercepted and copied correspondence and letters. She was actually surprised by how damned easy her little espionage operation was. If she was so inclined, she would make an awesome spy/assassin. 

For a solid minute, she contemplated it. She could make a shit ton of money… She shrugged it off. She was content with being a good guy… She still had those pesky things called morals, unfortunately. Sometimes, they could really get in the way.

She overheard a whisper about the best tea in Ba Sing Se. Without thinking about it too much, after a long day of pretending to be a lady of the palace, her feet carried her down to the lower levels of the city, a place where she stood out amongst the crowd with her silk kimono and shawl. Many eyed her with interest, some suspicion and others ill intent. However, even with so many eyes on her, no one could remember the face of the rich girl who walked into the little tea shop on the corner and even more interesting was that once she was out of sight, no one bothered to spare a second thought about her.

The owner of the shabby little joint was older, thin and, taking stock of her clothing, instantly attentive and ready to please her. “My lady, welcome! Please choose anywhere you would like to sit and I will have our server bring you whatever tea you desire. May I recommend the jasmine tea? It is delicious.”

“Of course, thank you.” She chose a table in the back corner, her back to the wall and her eye sharp on everything. It took her less than a second for her eyes to narrow in. Despite his clothing and unkempt state and his unruly mop of hair (it reminded her fleetingly of Harry Potter’s birds nest like this), he looked good. Dare she think it… hot. With a bath, some decent clothes and a comb… Fuck.

She had been avoiding it, avoiding him for so long now. Whenever he came up in conversation amongst her little family, she didn’t comment. Whenever something reminded her of him, she pushed it to the very back of her mind. She _didn’t like_ that he was there, a constant whisper, a voice in her head she couldn’t get rid of. She _hated_ that stupid tiny niggling feeling that she should seek him out. She _loathed_ that small tiny itty-bitty part of her that really really enjoyed the few kisses they’d shared. And she _despised_ that her magic practically purred whenever she was close to him.

So caught up in her thoughts, she almost jumped when he said, “Your tea,” placing a cup of steaming liquid in front of her. “Can I get you anything else?” He never once looked at her.

She raised an eyebrow and placed her hand on his, stopping him from leaving. “Are you okay?” Of course, he wouldn’t know that she was keying him into her glamour.

He looked startled but didn’t look up. “Why do you say that?”

“Look at me, and you’ll know.”

He was so close, in this tiny little tea shop, that she heard his breath catch. “Aika?” he whispered, his voice held a reverence that was usually reserved for goddesses. Her magic sang inside her. Stupid magic. “What are you doing here?” his voice was low so it didn’t carry to any potential eavesdroppers. 

She shrugged lightly, “I heard this place had the best tea in the city.”

His smile was tiny, but more than she had ever seen before. She couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if he smiled a real actual smile. She would bet everything that it’s brightness could rival the sun. As soon as she saw it, it was gone. “Uncle does make good tea.”

“Hmmm… What are you calling yourself here?”

“I’m Lee. And my Uncle’s name is Mushi.”

She hummed again. “When do you close?”

“We close when the last customer walks out.”

She nodded. “Alright.” She picked up her tea and took a sip. “That is nice tea. Thank you.” She left a gold coin on the table as she walked out.

Every chance she got, she managed to duck into the tea shop, even if it was already dark. She would sometimes take out her notes and reflect on what she had seen that day, or chat with Iroh. The man really was wise and often made her a special jasmine tea. Being British, she had a certain fondness for a good brew. She even gave him a small bag of her English Breakfast tea leaves, which he had loved. It was on one of these nights when Iroh was telling her the story of how he and Zuko had got to Ba Sing Se. “He didn’t really say that?!”

Iroh nodded gravely, “He did. He called it hot leaf juice, right to my face.”

“The blasphemy!”

Zuko rolled his eyes. 

***

**The Tale of Katara, Toph and Aika**

Aika was taking a day off her spying, knowing that Long Feng had gone to Lake Laogai for the day. Just as she was emerging from her room, dressed and ready for the day, she heard Katara saying, “You're not gonna wash up? You've got a little dirt on your ... everywhere, actually.”

“You call it dirt, I call it a healthy coating of earth!” Toph responded.

“Hmm…” Katara hummed, thinking. “You know what we need? A girl's day out!” 

“Do I have to?!”

“It'll be fun! Let me ask Aika!”

“No need, I’m right here.” Katara jumped, but of course, Toph had known she was there the whole time. “That sounds nice actually. And, if you come with us, Toph, we can work on you seeing this afternoon?” the older girl bribed.

Begrudgingly, the twelve-year-old agreed. 

_A little while later…_

“The Fancy Lady Day Spa?” Toph snorted sarcastically. “Sounds like my kinda place.”

“Are you ready for some serious pampering?”

The earthbender grumbled, “Sure, Katara, whatever you say. As long as they don't touch my feet.” Aika laughed.

The three girls walked inside the building. Of course, the first little bit of pampering was a foot scrub. Katara and Aika sat smiling, having their feet scrubbed and massaged. Both were trying not to laugh at poor Toph as her dirt-filled foot was being scraped by the attendant with what appeared to be a really thick brush. Toph's was not happy at all and after five minutes of pain, she snapped. 

Out of pure annoyance, Toph earthbended the area around her, causing a massive explosion and the attendants went flying through the wooden door frame and it crumpled in a heap. Aika cackled in glee and Katara snorted. Next up was a mud bath, where the girl took advantage by earthbending the mud on her face, creating a scary appearance. It scared the nearby attendant, who ran away with a squeal. The three girls laughed, as the mud around Toph's mouth formed a large smile.

Of course, when they reached the steam sauna, Toph kicked at the ground, bending another rock from another pile, making it fly onto the pile of hot rocks in the centre. Aika conjured a bit of fire to make the rocks hotter and Katara, using waterbending, splashed the hot rocks with some water creating steam. They all sighed happily.

After some final pampering, getting their hair and makeup done, they were out the door and walking through the quiet streets of Ba Sing Se. “Well, that wasn't so bad. I'm not usually into that stuff but I actually feel ... girly,” Toph confessed.

Katara smiled, “I'm glad. It's about time we did something fun together.”

They crossed a bridge over a creek, passing three Earth Kingdom girls going in the other direction. Being the pretentious bitches they were - only snobs carried umbrellas on a sunny day - they had to open their mouths and provide their unwarranted opinions.

“Wow, great makeup!” one said.

“Thanks,” Toph said.

“For a clown!” The bitches laughed and Toph's smile dropped. 

Glaring, Aika stepped forward to hex them, but Katara placed her hand on her arm. “Don’t listen to them Toph, let’s just keep walking. It’s not worth it.”

The bitch continued, “I think she looks cute. Like that time we put a sweater on your pet poodle monkey.”

“Good one, Star!” her little side-kick remarked.

Aika growled and threw a discreet hex, turning the girls’ skin orange and hair green. Katara choked on her next words, but since Toph couldn’t see them, she said, sarcastically, “No, no, that was a good one. Like your poodle monkey.” She laughed. “You know what else is a good one?” She stomped her heel into the ground and a part of the bridge disappeared where the three bitches were standing, causing them to fall into the creek below, screaming.

“Now that was funny.” Katara waterbended a wave that swept the girls down the creek. Their screams caused Aika to giggle. Toph started walking away from the bridge and Katara and Aika jogged a bit to catch up. When they did, Aika pulled them both into a side alley and cast a few notice-me-nots and a silencing ward. 

She asked Katara to keep watch before she turned to Toph. “Legilimens,” she spoke gently.

She appeared back in Toph’s mindscape, which now had colours, a wide mix of blues, greens and reds on objects that wouldn’t usually be that colour. Toph, however, was still a black outline. “Hey, Toph!”

“Aika! What are you doing? We are in the middle of the street!”

“I have to show you something. It’s important.”

“What is it?”

Concentrating hard, Aika conjured an image of Toph, in all her small glory, next to herself. “Toph, meet Toph.” The silhouette’s eyes widened and ran up to herself. It was the first time Toph had ever had a chance to see what she looked like and it made Aika’s heart ache in sadness and joy. Slowly, the outline that was Toph morphed and shifted until there were two Tophs standing side by side. 

Aika pulled herself out of Toph’s mind and collapsed against the nearby wall, slumping down in exhaustion. As Aika breathed heavily to recover, Toph hugged her fiercely again. “Thank you, Aika.”

“You’re welcome, Toph.”

“Can you show me everyone else too?” 

She sounded so hopeful that Aika couldn’t deny her. She nodded, “Yes, of course. When we get back to the cottage.”

***

**The Tale of Zuko**

She was sitting at her usual table, drinking jasmine tea and making notes in that little book of hers. He caught himself smiling slightly as he watched her brow furrowed in concentration and she bit her lip. Turning away, he went back into the staff only area where his uncle was brewing the tea. 

“Hey Uncle, we need two more jasmine and a ginseng.”

“I’m brewing as fast as I can!”

Zuko sighed, ‘I know, Uncle. I know.” He gazed out of the window that faced the main area of the shop and his eyes trailed back to Aika. 

Perceptive Iroh smiled at his nephew, “Lee, why do you not just ask her out?”

Zuko looked down at his tea serving tray and muttered, “I can’t.”

“Why ever not?” Iroh poured the requested teas and placed them on the tray for Zuko to take out. 

Picking up the full tray and walking out the door again, he stated, “I have nothing to offer her. Not yet.”

Knowing no one would hear him, Iroh sighed and watched his nephew serve the tea, unaware that the girl had looked up from her scribbling to watch the ex-prince greet and serve customers their tea. “Why are teenagers so stubborn?” They were both love-sick puppy-kittens and everyone around them could plainly see it, but they refused to.

Zuko closed the door behind the last customer before he turned and sighed. She was still sitting at the corner table, scribbling in that notebook of hers and oblivious to the world around her. Walking up, he tapped her shoulder and she jumped about an inch. “You need to be more aware of your surroundings,” he warned.

She looked up at him with her pretty blue eyes and shrugged. “I’ll be fine, Z- Lee. I’m not helpless.”

He conceded, “No, you are not.” He carefully looked her once over, “That still won’t stop someone trying to take advantage.”

She batted her eyelashes overly, which looked more like she was having some sort of a fit, and mocked, “Aw...darling! You do care!” She smirked.

He flushed, and looked away, “I’m just saying. Anyway, we’re closing up now.”

She packed away her things and put them into a bag at her side. “Alright. I’ll be back tomorrow. Probably.” She dropped a gold piece on the table for the tea she had consumed and he walked her to the door.

Just as she stepped onto the street, he blurted, “Aika.” She turned back around to look at him, her fiery hair flicking back with her movement. In that second… In that little moment… She was beautiful and he believed she could like him back. “Willyougooutwithmesometime?”

Instead of asking him to repeat himself, instead of laughing, instead of mocking him and slamming his hopes in his face like every other time in his life, she stepped closer and placed her lips gently on his cheek. On the side his scar used to be on. The scar she had healed. “Yes.”

He blinked and she was gone, like an apparition or a dream.

For once in his miserable life, he was happy.

***

She blamed her lack of sleep because of the stupid recurring nightmares, the long hours spying and her own stupidity at making goo-goo eyes at the Fire Prince for missing something so Morgana-damned obvious.

Of course, she had known about the party, what with her sneaking and spying in the palace every day. She had just forgotten what her siblings had planned to do with it before. When she saw the open paper on the table and groaned at how stupid she was. She altered her glamour to mimic that she had seen on the ‘high-society’ ladies at a dinner the previous week in the palace and made her way back to the centre of the city. She took the backstreets and alleyways that got her there in record time, hoping to catch the others quickly before they caught the attention of Long Feng.

When she got to the entrance, she looked around, but couldn’t see her hair-brained family. “Invitation, please,” the front attendant droned. 

She pulled out a piece of spare parchment from her charmed bag in her pocket and cast a _confundus_ under her breath. The attendant nodded and waved her in easily. She walked inside the party and looked around briefly but they weren’t there. Hastening - since members of high society never ran - she went back out to the front and looked around. One of the other attendants by the door asked her, “Can I help you with something, my Lady?”

Just as he asked, she spotted them by the side, speaking to Long Feng. She smiled graciously, “No matter. I am fine.” He nodded once and returned to his post as she made her way over to the two girls at a sedate pace worthy of a lady. “Emiko, Daitan, there you are! I was concerned when I could not find you girls inside.”

They both looked surprised at Aika’s presence, but Toph recovered quickly, “We misplaced our invitation.”

Long Feng looked at Aika appreciatively and said, “Yes, these two young ladies were just asking if I could help them inside to meet you.” She smiled gratefully and nodded, even though she wanted to chuck an Avada at him. The way he looked her over gave her the creeps, and she was thanking Merlin, Morgana and every other deity she could think of that she was wearing a glamour; it felt like a small armour against his wandering eyes. “I see you two are in capable hands now. Enjoy the party, ladies.” He bowed and went ahead, bypassing the line for entry.

“What are you doing here?” Katara said angrily.

“Trying to make sure you don’t get yourselves killed. Now where are the other two idiots?” They glared at her. “Let’s go in so we can get the two boys and get out of here.”

“Why would you stop us? We are going to see the Earth King.”

Harshly, the eldest girl scolded, “Not tonight, Katara. This is was a really stupid plan. Now we are going to go in, get them, and get out. Got it?” She didn’t wait for their agreement but put on a high society act to get through the doors again. The attendant just motioned them all through. She caught Aang and Sokka coming out of the servant’s entrance in busboy clothing and almost facepalmed. Making her way over to them, she cast several notice-me-nots on them all and grabbed the two by their ears and into a small alcove. Both their eyes widened in surprise at seeing her, but where Aang’s expression fell into a sheepish shame, Sokka’s turned into a hostile glare.

Before either of them could say anything, she whispered angrily, “Let’s go, now, if you do not want to get killed. You two will go out the side entrance the way you came in and we girls will leave out the front in ten minutes. You will meet us back home in twenty minutes or I will come looking for you.” They could sense the threat in her last words. They didn’t want to, but they obeyed, if only out of slight fear of what their older sister would do.

She cast a muffling charm before she started her tirade when they got back to the cottage. “That was stupid and reckless and hair-brained and dumb and every other synonym I can think of! What the hell were you four thinking, sneaking into a party like that! With every member of high society there, some of the people who want to keep you far away from the Earth King were bound to be there! Not only that! I catch you trying to scam the head of the Dai Li! We may be powerful and trying to stop a war but we are not stupid! You almost got yourselves killed with your lack of patience!”

“Oh yeah! It’s not like you’re trying to help or anything! You’re gone before most of us wake up and then don’t come back until after dinner! You’ve left us alone to try and do this ourselves!” Sokka yelled.

“And how would we have known he was the head of the Dai Li?! You are barely around anymore! You don’t do anything with us! It’s like you’ve completely discarded us!” Katara joined in.

Toph chipped in as well, shouting, “We want to stop a war, but it seems that you’re content to just flit around like a rich lady doing whatever you please! You show up to scold us, to sleep and then leave again. You do nothing! You haven’t helped me see in weeks either!”

“You don’t care about us anymore,” Aang whispered, tears in his eyes.

Without a word, Aika pulled out all her work, all her notes, every bit of intelligence she had managed to gather over the last month and threw it on the ground, and left the house. She didn’t trust that she wouldn’t say something she would regret later.

Their anger vented, and their frustrations aired, the rest of the group were slightly curious about what she had thrown at them. Sokka picked up the book, but loose bits of paper dropped out. Katara and Aang leaned over to pick them up. She said, surprised, “Hey, this is the Cultural Minister, Long Feng’s signature… I recognise it from one of those invitations I saw.” Sokka perused the contents of the notebook. It looked like times, names. One name he saw repeatedly was Long Feng. It was frequently written on the pages. “Hey, I wonder what these numbers on the back mean,” Katara said, turning the paper she held over. 

Sokka glanced between the number on the paper Katara held and the book he had. “Guys, each number written on the paper's corresponds with a note in her book. Help me put them in order.” As they worked, more and more of the picture started to emerge. The terrifying picture that would haunt their nightmares. 

Toph, not being much help in this instance, got impatient. “What? What is it?”

“Aika… She hasn’t been doing nothing… Every day… she’s been going to the palace to spy, to gather intelligence… trying to work out what is going on in Ba Sing Se. She’s got letters from Long Feng to Dai Li agents, she’s got times and dates of meetings with officials from the Fire Nation. There’s even an order of execution here. She’s got… everything. Everything we would need to take to the Earth King and expose what is really going on in the city.”

They looked at each other dismayed. "We're idiots."

Aika didn't stop to think. She didn't care… She didn't care… All she did was care. Why would she save their asses over and over again if she didn't care?! Right now though, she was angry. She needed to vent her emotions or she would have an accidental magic episode. Why was that a bad thing again? Oh right, destruction and chaos.

Honestly, if she properly stopped to think, she didn’t know why she was so angry. This wasn’t a huge deal. If she went back to them, she could calmly explain what she had been doing. She could have resolved the problem with them rationally, but frustration and anger ruled her. For once in her life, she wanted to rant and rage. She didn’t want to stop to think. She didn’t want to be rational, didn’t want to be logical, or moral or-

"Aika?" 

She spun around. How had she ended up here? Stupid legs. Stupid magic. "Are you done now?" she asked, almost growled out. She had to look up at him, she had never really noticed how much taller than her he was before. Or how much of a turn on it was. 

He ran a hand through his longish black hair, not noticing the anger or heat in her tone. "Yeah, Uncle is just finishing up. I was going to go for a walk before heading back to our apartment."

She suddenly had a much better idea for an outlet to her frustrations. "Good." Casting several notice-me-nots with one hand, she used the other to yank him forward by the shirt, pulling him into a punishing bruising kiss. His shock lasted mere seconds before male instinct kicked in and he retaliated with similar urgency. He grabbed her hips and pulled her even closer. One of his hands travelled up along her side until he gripped the side of her face, tilting her head back so he could have better access to her mouth. His touch was like fire and she moaned softly into the kiss. 

She pulled away long enough to whisper, "Close your eyes and hold your breath." He frowned slightly at the odd request.

She pulled her magic into herself and apparated them to where Appa was on the outskirts of the city. While Zuko caught his breath - she was surprised he hadn't thrown up honestly, side-along apparition was a bitch - she set up the tent. Within moments, she had dragged him back to her, not allowing him time to process what she had just done, and into a kiss that was all anger, frustration, heat and passion. She pushed him inside, guiding him back towards the bedrooms and into hers, activating all the safety and security charms on the tent. No one would find them. No one would disturb them.

She shoved him back onto her bed and he fell in surprise, pushing himself up onto his elbows and looking around the room in astonishment. He didn't get any further because she crawled on top and straddled him. His usually sun-coloured eyes grew wider and then darkened to molten liquid gold. He opened his mouth to say something, but she stopped him. "No. No talking. Not tonight." She let her hair out of its braid, knowing he had been fascinated with it for a while. He smirked and reached up, running his hand through the soft silky tresses of fire. She shivered at his touch and leaned down to kiss him once again. He quickly took control of it again, tangling his fingers in her hair and tugging, making her gasp. When her mouth opened with the sound, he took the opportunity to deepen the kiss further. 

As a prince, he was no stranger to sex. To his own disgust, it was part of his princely education. He had been trained in this, to make sure he didn't fall to the whims of wanton women. To know how to produce pleasure that a prince should provide; something about how a prince should always be the best, no matter the activity. He had felt dirty and disgusted then. But this was different. This was Aika.

Unbeknownst to him, Aika was definitely not a virgin. You didn't stay one long after the fifth year at Hogwarts unless it was a term stipulated in a marriage contract. Even she, an unsociable loner at Hogwarts, had had some bloke or another in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw fall over her lithe petite figure and that’s to say nothing on when she was overseas in duelling competitions, particularly ones in France.

Ever the prince, Zuko mumbled between kisses, "Aika… we shouldn't… your honour..."

"Screw that shit," she whispered, nibbling on his earlobe. "And unless you plan to scream it from rooftops, I think we can keep this our little secret." She ground against him and suckled on a spot on his neck. She traced a path with her lips to the juncture between his neck and shoulder and bit down lightly, smiling when he groaned.

He could only hold out for so long before he snapped. And snap he did. Flipping them over so quickly she got a small headrush, he crushed his mouth against hers. She made a breathy little moan that made his blood boil and rush south. He ran his hand down her side to her thigh, hoisting her leg up to wrap around his waist and he ground back into her roughly. She cried out softly and he nipped her bottom lip with his teeth.

The heat threatened to consume them. She boiled, he burned, she burst, he blazed. They were not slow and steady; not one touch was gentle as they left marks and bruises, as they nipped with teeth, raked nails, and broke skin. There was nothing loving about this; it wasn’t meant to be. They weren’t doing this because of love, but out of a need to make themselves feel good despite the twisted world they lived in. It was rough and raw and tore at every emotion, every piece of them until there was nothing left but each other and their pleasure.

She forgot about her responsibilities, her nightmares, her grief, her anger.

He forgot about his family, his duties, his pride, his pain.

She cried out loudly when he shoved her violently over the edge. He fell with her.

She glanced behind her. She didn’t want to wake him but it would be sunrise in an hour and she had to get him back into the city before it got too busy in the streets. In here, in her room in the tent, she could pretend that nothing else existed outside it. She could pretend that there was no war and that technically they were on two opposing sides. She could pretend that she didn’t know that no matter how much they could possibly care for each other, right now he would choose his country over her. She briefly entertained the thought of comparing them to Romeo and Juliet… Nah, she refused to be that sappy and he was too stubborn to die. 

While she would never voice sappy her thoughts, she still didn’t want to go back to reality. But nothing lasts forever, and in this case, she had known from the start that it could only last a few hours.

“What are you thinking about?” his voice was husky from sleep and it sent a small shiver of desire through her. 

“Us. Everything,” she responded enigmatically.

He placed light kisses along her neck and shoulder, making his way up to her ear. “Can we talk now?”

She had known this time would eventually come. She didn’t know what to say to him honestly. She couldn’t tell him the same way she had told her adopted siblings. But she couldn’t keep lying. Couldn’t keep doing this to him or herself. She guessed she just thought if she didn’t speak, then she could keep up her illusions a little longer. “Yes,” she whispered.

He didn’t ask her anything right away, kept up his small ministrations, either waiting for her to go first, or not knowing what to ask first, she didn’t know. Eventually, she heard his murmur, “Are you an energy-bender?” She was stunned and her body tensed against his. “I guess that’s a yes.”

“How did you know?” she inquired hoarsely. He didn’t stop his little kisses, and shockingly, he pulled her even tighter into him, as if he was afraid she would suddenly disappear. Well, she could, she surmised. 

“Uncle Iroh figured it out,” he stated matter-of-factly. She supposed it made sense. The Dragon of the West always was perceptive and wise. It was slightly odd that the old man knew what she was, however, she honestly didn’t care how the old man had come to the conclusion. It didn’t really matter in the long run.

She hummed. “So what did you want to talk about, since you already know my biggest secret?”

He was quiet and Aika relaxed again. “What do you want with me?” he finally questioned.

“Nothing. Everything. Anything in between. I don’t know. What do you want?” she put back at him.

He raised himself up onto his arms and manoeuvred them both so he was hovering over her again. In the light of the single candle that burnt on the far side of the room, he searched her ice-blue eyes. She had no idea what he was looking for, and she didn’t know if he found it, but he leaned down and pulled her into another heart-wrenching kiss. When he pulled back, he said slightly possessively, “I want everything you can give.”

There was an unspoken pact made between them that morning. They would not speak of this to anyone else, they would not speak of the war or what side they were on, and they would not ask anything more of each other than what was offered. It was just getting to daybreak when she apparated them back to an alley close behind the shabby tea shop he worked in. Luckily, she could confirm that no one had seen them. One searing kiss later, she was walking back towards Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se, to the house the Earth Kingdom had provided.

Everyone was still asleep when she made it back, but that was not surprising considering the extremely early hour. She snuck back into her room and collapsed on the mattress.

It was odd times like these when she had some time to think and reflect, that she couldn't help but wonder how different this world was. In terms of development, it was pretty much stuck in something like the era of the Roman Empire, with wooden or stone housing, spotty education, old laws, a patriarchal society and a system based the success of a man on how high up he was in the army or close to the King. 

The mere fact that he had been worried about her ‘honour’, was telling of the world he lived in. While the British Wizarding world’s high society, the ‘purebloods’, still had some archaic rules regarding education, work and marriage for women, most of the ‘commoners’ didn’t believe in that tripe and were more about equality. Here though, the marriage age for girls was still pretty young at sixteen, and most of the social norms that seemed unfairly sexist were still in place. In the Southern Water Tribe, she had been lucky that most of the men had been away for the war because Kanna had told her that she probably would have married one of them considering she was seventeen. In fact, Kanna had even hinted at Sokka! Ha! She had paled at the thought back then. Apparently, by twenty-four, a woman was considered an old maid and unmarriable here. What a laugh!

She understood that war aged people. Losing loved ones, losing parents, losing homes. Growing up to fight, growing up in subjugation and being hated simply because you exist. All of these things aged someone emotionally and mentally, sometimes physically. She had never been a little girl, always grown up fast, but even she was accelerated right through most of her teen years into adulthood as a result of the Wizarding war. Then she was dumped into a second one. And while it wasn't as brutal for her as the first, it was still awful. But she still thought that sixteen was way too young to get married and start a family.

Why was she even thinking about this?!

She knew why of course, but she would never admit it to herself. Not in a million years.

One more stupid thought popped into her head as she drifted off into sleep. 

_What can I give?_


	18. Lakes and Kings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.
> 
> Note: I know that some people weren’t expecting the story to go that way in the last chapter, but I just want to remind you that Zuko is about 19, close to 20 now, and Aika is almost 18. She also comes from a different world, where waiting for marriage isn’t really a thing for her :) 
> 
> Also in this chapter: Contains triggers! I don’t want anyone to be shocked when it comes up. We've probably all seen or heard of worse, but just in case...
> 
> Again, excuse the writing. 
> 
> Enjoy!

White again. 

_Aika…_

She turned to see her twin with the cyan eyes again.

_What do you want from me?_ She asked herself.

_Look deep. Open yourself up._ Her odd twin floated backwards, drifting away into the distance.

_Open myself up to what?_ She cried out to her disappearing double.

It was a male voice that responded. _Me._

“Aika!” 

She sat up again, gasping for air, but her head collided with someone else’s. “Ow!” she yelled, clutching her forehead. Blinking through the pain in her skull, she looked over at Sokka, who had fallen on his ass when they had hit, pressing his hand against his own head. “What the hell, idiot? Why were you that close?”

Sokka groaned, “I’ve been trying to wake you for a few minutes now. Ow, spirits, you have a hard head Aika.”

“Oh gee, I’m sorry, Sokka. Why don’t I just go get myself a softer skull? Would that make it all better?”

He stood and pouted, “You’re really sarcastic this morning.”

She glared at him, “Yeah, well, I’m still mad at you guys. And I’m tired from lack of sleep. And I’m in pain from the aforementioned colliding of skulls.” She threw the covers off herself, still fully dressed from when she had laid down this early morning. “So what can I do for you on this fine morning, Sokka? Or can I go have a bath in peace?”

He looked at her sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck, mumbling, “Um… I was voted to be the one to talk to you.”

She glared harder. “Voted?”

He nodded fearfully under her intense gaze. “Um… yes?”

Growling, she shouted into the rest of the house, “If any of you want my forgiveness, you better be man enough to face me!” She turned to the frightened Water Tribe boy and snapped, “I’m going for a bath. I’ll be out in thirty minutes. They better be assembled in the living room if they know what’s good for them.”

She grabbed another set of clothes from the top of the dresser and stormed into the bathroom. It was thankfully empty, so she could satisfactorily slam the door.

Out in the living room, Toph stated, “We’re dead.”

Aang and Katara paled.

They apologised profusely as soon as she sat down, talking over one another so much that she really couldn’t distinguish many words. “Whoa! Hold it! One at a time.” After each of their sincere apologies, she just nodded. “Alright, water under the bridge. Let’s forget last night ever happened.” If only…

The relief on their faces was almost comical, but the awkwardness dragged on. Sokka couldn’t handle it after a while, “So… We read the notes.” Aika hummed in response. “You really been spying on the Dai Li and the Earth King?”

She smirked, “Of course. I figured out something was up when we met that Joo Dee woman at the monorail station. It was creepy. So I investigated. It led me right to the Earth Kingdom palace, Long Feng and another place called Lake Laogai. I haven’t had a chance to explore there yet. I’ve been gathering evidence so we can take it to the Earth King.”

“So what are we waiting for?! Let’s go to the Earth King now!” Sokka yelled.

“Lake Laogai is where I think the headquarters of the Dai Li is.” She didn’t think, she knew, but that was beside the point. “I was planning on collecting evidence from there and then we could storm the palace gates.”

“Okay, so let’s go to Lake Laogai!” Aang exclaimed, jumping up. He looked like he was ready to head to the door right at that second.

“Hang on a second!” Katara declared. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

Aika smiled at the observant girl. “Long Feng uses brainwashing techniques to ‘take care’ of people, and when that fails, he executes them. If we get caught, we aren’t coming out of there. I know we have four extremely strong benders in our group and a good strategist, but he has an entire organisation dedicated to him and his cause. It’s not going to be so simple to storm it. I was planning to go alone.”

“But aren’t you just as susceptible to brainwashing?” Toph queried.

Aika scoffed, “Not a chance. I have strong mind shields. Besides, my form of brainwashing is so much stronger.”

“Isn’t that dark magic, Aika?” Sokka questioned. Aang’s expression contorted into a mix of confusion and a frown.

She raised an eyebrow, “It might be. But tell me that what Long Feng is doing isn’t evil.”

The Avatar asserted, “You cannot fight evil with evil. You fight it with good.”

Toph mumbled, “I don’t know. If the bad guys are playing dirty, why shouldn’t we? That seems only fair.”

It was Katara that broke up the small squabble that broke out between them about the notion of good vs evil. “Alright, guys! This debate is a moot point since we are coming with you to Lake Laogai, Aika. You won’t have to use the evil stuff because we won’t get caught.”

Aang nodded. “Then we go tonight,” he said gravely.

The trip to Lake Laogai would not be as eventful as it was before, she believed. This time, they didn’t have to rescue a ten-ton bison to rescue, nor did they have the Freedom Fighters as tag-alongs. They slipped into the facility under the cover of darkness and had a clear plan for what they needed to do, no one knew they were there. She would have put disillusionment charms on them, but then they wouldn’t be able to see each other as well. 

They walked past a room where a member of the Dai Li was in the middle of brainwashing a group of women. The man said, “I'm Joo Dee. Welcome to Ba Sing Se.”

The women all had spacy smiles on their faces and droned, “I'm Joo Dee. Welcome to Ba Sing Se.”

“We're so lucky to have our walls to create order,” he said.

“We're so lucky to have our walls to create order,” the Joo Dees’ all repeated.

“That’s so wrong,” whispered Sokka as they continued down the hallway.

Of course, her hopes of a peaceful espionage mission was dashed when they walked into a room and the door shut behind them. Crap. Lights turned on, revealing that they were in a huge stone room and quite a large number of Dai Li agents surrounded them. “Now that's something different,” Sokka commented. Aika snorted softly. Only he would be able to make sarcastic quips in the face of battle. It was one of the things she loved about her brother.

Long Feng stood on a raised platform to be seen over the rest of the agents. “You have made yourselves enemies of the state. Take them into custody.”

Two agents immediately fired rock gloves, but Toph broke them up and sent the two agents flying through the air with rock pillars. Aika ran toward the agents and broke two other gloves fired by agents with some well-aimed blasting hexes, and stunned another. A full battle ensued. Aang dealt with a pair of Dai Li agents while Sokka and Katara destroyed two Dai Li gloves, but a second pair grabbed them. Aika just blasted them apart. Toph created a rock wall and knocked away the four Dai Li agents that attacked her, but a glove captured her. Aika broke that one apart as well. Looking around at the increasing number of Dai Li agents pouring into the room, Aika cast an overpowered and wide, “ _Immobulus!_ ” 

A wave of energy erupted from the tip of her wand and everything it hit immediately froze, including her team. She walked over to them and released them from the charm’s hold before going to every Dai Li agent and conjuring tight ropes around their arms and legs with silent _incarcerous_ charms, ensuring they couldn’t move at all to bend. The rest of the team made a beeline for Long Feng to make sure that even if he did manage to break the freezing charm, he wouldn’t be able to get away.

The energy-bender was extremely pleased with herself. By the time she made her way up to the platform where Long Feng was, the freezing charm was starting to wear off the agents and they began wiggling in their bonds. None were powerful enough to bend without the use of their arms and legs, which was fortunate. She chuckled as they flopped about like fish and then she turned to Long Feng. “Hello, again.”

He smiled happily as if he weren’t stuck surrounded by some seriously powerful enemy benders. “Isa, wasn’t it? The mysterious older companion to the Avatar?”

She smiled, but it wasn't a nice smile. It was stiff, fake, all teeth and no happiness; it was the kind of smile you gave to someone you hated. “You’ve heard of me! Guess what? I’ve heard of you too! Long Feng, Cultural Minister of Ba Sing Se, Head of the Dai Li, racketeer, extortionist, blackmailer, rapist, murderer. That’s a lot of fancy titles, don’t you think?” she mused, faking cheeriness.

Long Feng laughed, “You certainly are a delusional liar, aren’t you? Who are you going to tell? The King?”

She shrugged, that fake smile still plastered on her face and twirled her wand in her fingers. She watched as his eyes followed the movement. “Maybe I am delusional. Maybe I am a liar. But the evidence I’ve collected says otherwise. Or did you not have a meeting with one of the Earth Fleet generals about crashing the tunnel for the ferry to Full Moon Bay so no more refugees would be able to get here? Or did you not secretly organise for taxes to be raised upon the Lower City while alleviating them in the Upper City so you could have more influential friends? How about the order to have Jon Fe murdered on his vacation to Sun Island, along with his family and then blame firebenders for it?” With each accusation, Long Feng grew paler and paler. She tapped her chin in thought, “My personal favourite is the brainwashing of innocent women and then repeating a _certain_ phrase to make them pliable enough to rape them in your office.”

The rest of the gang blanched at the direct way she spoke. Katara turned green, Toph looked grim and Sokka and Aang looked absolutely livid. Sokka kicked the disgusting man hard in the stomach, hopefully cracking a rib or two. Aang’s tattoos started glowing in his anger, but Aika placed her hand on his shoulder. “Aang, it’s okay. He’s going to confess to his crimes and be punished for them.”

The boy looked up at her, “How?”

She smiled evilly, twirling her wand between her fingers. Katara, Aang and Sokka shivered, thinking Toph was lucky that she was blind. They would never forget that smile. 

“ _Imperio._ ”

“We have to be careful. Long Feng's probably warned the king that we're coming,” Katara cautioned them.

“Why would you assume that? If you ask me, I think we're just gonna sail right in and-” A giant rock sailed through the air and almost hits them. “Aahh!”

“What was that?” Toph demanded.

“Surface-to-air rocks! More incoming!” They dodged a few more flying boulders. One was launched right at Aang, but he destroyed it with his earthbending skills. Another launched at them head on and Aang destroyed it with his staff. He propelled himself from Appa to the front of the palace and used earthbending to knock back the palace guards. Appa landed and roared at the Guard Captain's ostrich horse, which caused it to drop the captain and run off. Aika snorted in amusement at the man’s bewildered expression. As they continued toward the doors of the palace, more guards appeared and launched earth cubes at the gang. Toph and Aang used earthbending to block the attacks, while Katara used waterbending to subdue the guards and Aika walked, waving her wand and stunning the men as she went. She heard Katara apologising as she defeated them and chuckled. One of the guards tried to sneak up on her but she tossed a stunner casually over her shoulder. He dropped like a rock. That thought made her giggle internally. 

More surface-to-air rocks appeared as guards were coming down the giant staircase in front of them. Toph used earthbending to change the stairs into a ramp, causing them all to fall. She and Aang then used earthbending to escalate themselves up the stairs. Aika levitated Sokka and Katara to the top before doing the same to herself. 

“Toph, which way to the Earth King?” Sokka cried.

“How should I know? I'm still voting we leave Ba Sing Se.”

A few wrong doors later, Aika tapped Sokka’s shoulder. “How about we try the giant ornate doors with the gold handles down the hall?” she asked, pointing towards said doors.

Sokka nodded, “Good idea!” He started running towards them. Why was he in such a hurry? It’s not like they didn’t have a plan. Aang and Toph broke down the door, sending Soka flying with it. He rubbed the back of his head where a rock struck him. “Ow! A little warning next time!”

They arrived in the Earth King's chamber with King Kuei sitting on his throne. Long Feng and his Dai Li agents stood in their way. The team took fighting stances against them, except Aika, who was standing casually and twirling her wand between her fingers, not in the least bit worried.

“We need to talk to you,” Aang dictated to the King.

Long Feng however, turned to face the Kuei and urged, “They're here to overthrow you.”

Aika tsked with her tongue, grabbing everyone’s attention. “Oh come now, Long Feng,” she scolded, with a taunting undertone to her voice. “Be a good boy and tell the King the truth. What are we really doing here and what are you doing to his Kingdom? It would be good for you to get it all off your chest.”

Like a performer who had been waiting for his cue, Long Feng dropped to his knees and confessed every crime he had ever committed. Kuei just stared wide-eyed at who he thought was his most loyal advisor. Turned out he was his greatest enemy. About half-way through the man’s confession, the King stood and commanded, “Stop! Dai Li, arrest this man! He will stand trial for his crime against the Earth Kingdom and its citizens!” Once he had been taken away, the King turned to them, “So what did you want? Besides revealing the horrible conspiracies happening in my city?”

Sokka proceeded to tell the King all about the war against the Fire Nation and try to obtain the King's support. Katara, Toph and Aang chipped in at various intervals, but Aika wasn’t so inclined. Instead, she went to go play with the bear in the corner, conjuring small animals for the bear to pounce on for her amusement. 

To prove what they said about the war was true, they offered to give the King a ride on Appa to the Outer Wall, where he witnessed for the first time what was going on. The drill into the Outer Wall was still there, exactly as they had left it. Aang pointed at the giant machine, “It's still there!”

Kuei spoke, shocked, “What is that?”

“It's a drill. A giant drill made by the Fire Nation to break through your walls.” The King looked horrified.

Appa landed gently on the top of the wall and they all jumped off as the King ran to the end to peer down at the drill. “I can't believe I never knew.” 

One empowering speech from Sokka later, the Earth King declared his support for the attack on the Fire Nation on the day of the solar eclipse. Honestly, Aika thought the King was a tiny bit of a pushover to be able to be convinced by a teen boy, but no matter. Support was support and as long as the man supported the same cause as her, she didn’t care what he did.

“Your Majesty.” A man in elaborate military uniform hurried up to the group and bowed towards the King. “I apologize for the interruption.”

Turning to his companions, Kuei informed, “This is General How. He's the leader of the Council of Five, my highest ranking generals.”

The man nodded his head in greeting to the teenagers. “We searched Long Feng's office. I think we found something that will interest everybody.” Team Avatar glanced at each other in confusion. Back in the palace, the King was notified about what had been found while the teens were directed to wait in a parlour. A few minutes later, a servant called them inside a room, where the King was seated behind a desk. He stated gravely, “There are secret files on everyone in Ba Sing Se. Including you kids.”

“Secret files?” Aang queried, looking down at the box on the desk in front of the king. 

Kuei took out a scroll and read the side. "Toph Beifong." He absently handed the scroll to General How, who passed it to Toph, who passed it to Katara.

Opening the scroll, Katara briefly read it and said, “It's a letter from your mom. Your mom's here in the city. And she wants to see you.” 

Toph's eyes widened with shock. “Long Feng intercepted our letters from home?” She shook her head, “That's just sad.”

Kuei took out another scroll and handed it to Aang. “Aang? This scroll came in via messenger hawk.”

Aang opened the scroll and read it. “It's from the Eastern Air Temple.”

“Is there a letter for me and Sokka by any chance?” Katara asked hopefully.

Looking in the box, the king shook his head, “I'm afraid not. But there is an intelligence report that might interest you.” He passed a scroll to Katara.

"A small fleet of Water Tribe ships,” she read aloud from the parchment.

Sokka immediately zipped to Katara’s side, trying to read over her shoulder. “What? That could be Dad!”

Katara continued, "Protecting the mouth of Chameleon Bay. Led by Hakoda." Katara and Sokka turned to each other in excitement. “It is Dad!”

“I can't believe it. There's a man living at the Eastern Air Temple. He says he's a guru!” The Avatar smiled happily at his eldest sister, knowing she would understand. Aika smiled widely at him, happy to see her younger brother so excited. It could be really nice to see all these guys actually act their age sometimes. 

“What's a guru? Some kind of poisonous blowfish?” Sokka asked, proving Aang’s internal thoughts.

“No, a spiritual expert. He wants to help me take the next step in the Avatar journey. He says he can teach me to control the Avatar State.”

“And I can't believe we know where our dad is now!” Katara added.

“I know what you mean. My mom's in the city. And from her letter, it sounds like she finally understands me.” Aika could tell that the earthbender was happy, but was trying to maintain her cool. She wanted to warn her but didn't have the heart to crush her hope, with how small and fragile it was.

“This is all such big news! Where do we even start?” the airbender remarked.

“I hate to say it, but we have to split up,” mumbled Katara. The waterbender didn’t look thrilled about it, but she knew it would be best for all of them.

Aang said worriedly, “Split up? You want us to separate?”

“You have to meet this guru, Aang. If we're going to invade the Fire Nation, you need to be ready.”

Sadly, the airbender nodded, “Well, if I'm going to the Eastern Air Temple, Appa and I can drop you off at Chameleon Bay to see your dad.”

“Someone has to stay here with the Earth King and help him plan for the invasion” Sokka affirmed. Standing up, he declared, “I guess that's me.”

The waterbender shook her head. “No, Sokka. I know how badly you wanna help Dad. You go to Chameleon Bay. I'll stay here with the king.”

Overjoyed with tears welling in his eyes, Sokka danced happily. “You are the best... sister... ever!” He threw his arms around Katara and kissed her on the cheek.

“Easy there, big brother…” she commented, chuckling slightly. “Though you're right. I am.”

Aika piped up, “I’m going with Aang. I don’t trust a random man who says he’s a guru. Could be a trap.” Of course, she was actually going to make sure he didn’t leave before he mastered the Avatar State, but it still could have been a trap. At least, the rest of the group bought her reason for tagging along with the Avatar with a solemn nod.

Aika glared at Sokka as he winked at her, knowingly having just interrupted a very important moment between his sister and the young Avatar. The eldest teen boy knew just as well as his elder sister what was going on and took every opportunity to mess with the two. Although, knowing it was now annoying Aika somehow made it even sweeter for Sokka. She huffed and he grinned.

The Earth King hurried down the palace steps, “Aang, Isa and Sokka, I wish you a good journey. Ba Sing Se owes you its thanks. We look forward to your safe return.” The three bow to the King in thanks.

A soldier came up from behind the king, “Your Majesty. There are three female warriors to see you. They're from the island of Kyoshi.”

Shocked, Sokka announced, “That's Suki!” He fell off Appa and Aika chuckled.

“You know these warriors?” Kuei questioned the group.

Getting up and throwing a small glare at his older sister for her laughter, he said, “Oh, yeah. The Kyoshi Warriors are a skilled group of fighters. Trustworthy too. They're good friends of ours.” This time, he managed to get himself situated in Appa’s saddle without falling.

“Then we shall welcome them as honoured guests,” Kuei avowed.

Aang turned to climb on Appa. “Wait. Aang!” Katara rushed forward and hugged him, kissing him on the cheek, which caused him to blush. Aika let out a very quiet ‘aww’, and Sokka chuckled from his spot next to the older girl. She hit him on the arm.

***

“In our hour of need, it is with the highest honour that I welcome our esteemed allies, the Kyoshi Warriors!” King Kuei declared from his throne.

Three Kyoshi Warriors walked up to the king and bowed deeply, before looking up at him. “We are the Earth King's humble servants.”

Gold eyes gleamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Side note: Aika is still using the fake name and glamour in Ba Sing Se, even with King Kuei.


	19. Unblocking Blocks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.

“I'm ready to master the Avatar State. I'll do whatever it takes,” Aang proclaimed. They had arrived at the Water Tribe base where Sokka was going to meet with his father. The teen boy jumped off Appa and waved goodbye at the airbender and energy-bender. “See you in a week! Yip yip!” Aika waved back at her water tribe brother, calling out her goodbyes.

On the way to the Eastern Air Temple, Aika dropped her glamour now that they were far enough away from others and the two benders kept up light and easy conversation, until Aang announced, “We’re close.”

Aika closed her eyes and breathed out heavily, “Aang, I want you to remember something when you do this.”

The excited airbender turned to look at his sister with his complete attention. She had helped him so much, of course, he would listen to her. “Yes?”

She looked deeply into his eyes, “You are not alone. And no matter what you have to do, no matter what the guru tells you, you will never lose us. If you are even the slightest bit afraid of this, if you ever have any doubts, even the slightest inkling, no matter what you have to let go of to master the Avatar State, you will not lose us. Not me, not Sokka, not Toph, not Katara.”

Her words slightly scared him. “What are you talking about?”

She smiled slightly, “I have this… feeling. I just need you to remember this, okay? If you have to let us go for a bit, you will find us again. Okay? This is going to be a spiritual and mental journey, not a physical one, and I don’t know what connections you will be allowed to carry with you. You will never lose us, no matter what you have to do, what you have to become to defeat the Fire Lord. We will be by your side until the end and maybe, even beyond that. All of us.”

His eyes contained fear, worry and unshed tears, but he nodded all the same, “Okay, Aika. I trust you.”

Guru Pathik was an odd character, but she supposed you are allowed to be odd after the age of one hundred. He told Aang he could help him master the Avatar State before he turned to Aika. “Hello, are you here for enlightenment as well?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m just here for Aang.”

The guru eyed her and after a few silent seconds said, “No, I believe I should insist on you coming on the journey as well.”

Aika scowled and Aang asked curiously, “Why would Aika need it? She’s already mastered her energy-bending.”

“Ah, but she has not. She relies on a crutch, the help of something that could be taken away easily. In order to fully master her craft, she must open herself in a similar way as I shall help you, young Avatar,” Pathik said wisely and cryptically.

“No offence Pathik, but if I ‘open myself’ too much, my core would rupture and I would literally burn from the inside out.” She knew that trying to pull in too much external energy to charge her core to overcapacity was a completely terrible idea.

“Nonsense. I insist,” Pathik assured.

Rolling her eyes, she thought she could use this time to work on her occlumency as well. “Oh alright. Let’s go.” The guru led them to a creek that ran through the Eastern Air Temple. It was quite beautiful and serene. The old man sat down cross-legged in a classic Buddhist meditation pose and gestured for the other two to sit down as well. Aang copied the pose, but Aika sat normally. “In order to master the Avatar State, you must open all the chakras. Tell me everything you know about chakras.”

Aang rubbed his eyes. “What are chakras?”

“Oh, I see. I guess we'll start with the basics.” The man stood and grabbed a long stick nearby. As he explained he points to the water in the creek and the moss within. “The water flows through this creek, much like the energy flows through your body. As you see, there are several pools where the water swirls around before flowing on. These pools are like our chakras.”

“So chakras are pools of spiralling energy in our bodies?” the airbender clarified.

“Exactly. If nothing else were around, this creek would flow pure and clear. However, life is messy, and things tend to fall in the creek. And then what happens?”

“The creek can't flow?”

“Yes. But, if we open the ponds between the pools…” He removed moss blocking the exit for the water.

“The energy flows! It kind of sounds like energy bending, doesn’t it Aika?” the young boy exclaimed excitedly, pleased that he was grasping the lesson. 

Aika smiled softly at him. “It’s similar, Aang.”

Pathik continued, “There are seven chakras that go up the body. Each pool of energy has a purpose and can be blocked by a specific kind of emotional muck. Be warned, opening the chakras is an intense experience, and once you begin the process, you cannot stop until all seven are open. Are you both ready?”

Aang momentarily looked down and then said seriously, “I'll do whatever it takes.” Pathik looked at Aika next and she just gave an almost imperceptible nod. The guru accepted it anyway.

“First we will open the Earth Chakra, located at the base of the spine. It deals with survival and is blocked by fear. What are you most afraid of? Let your fears become clear to you.”

Concentrating, Aika opened herself up to her fears. Surprisingly, she didn’t see anything but rather heard echoes of the distant past, Bellatrix Lestrange’s cackle, Amycus and Alecto Carrow casting the torture curse at her, Lord Voldermort’s sibilant snake-like voice from the Battle of Hogwarts. But these fears were easily conquered. They were all separated from her by a whole universe, even if they weren’t already dead and gone. She had nothing to fear. The first chakra conquered, she opened her eyes to see Aang still concentrating.

“Aang, your vision is not real,” Pathik said calmly. “You are concerned for your survival, but you must surrender those fears. Let your fears flow down the creek.” Finally, Aang opened his eyes, wiping sweat off his forehead. “You have opened your Earth Chakra!”

They moved to a cavern and made their way to sit behind a waterfall in the Air Temple. “Next is the…”

“Water Chakra?” Aang guessed due to their location.

“Brilliant! Maybe one day you will be a guru too! This chakra deals with pleasure and is blocked by guilt. Now, look at all the guilt which burdens you so. What do you blame yourself for?”  
Aika could guess what Aang was thinking about because he said, “I ran away. I hurt all of those people.”

“Accept the reality that these things happened, but do not let them cloud and poison your energy. If you are to be a positive influence on the world, you need to forgive yourself.”

Aika closed her eyes and focused on the guilt she felt for when she had insisted on going to Hogwarts and didn’t stick by her parents. She had mostly forgiven herself for their deaths during that awful year but she was still assaulted by pangs of guilt every now and again when she thought of them. More so, she felt guilty that she had moved on so quickly and not grieved their deaths more. This, she had to forgive herself for.

This time, when Aika opened her eyes, Aang was waiting for her. He reached over and gripped her hand gently in comfort and she squeezed it back. They would get through this together.  
Pathik moved the group to a ledge overlooking the cavern. “Third is the Fire Chakra, located in the stomach.”

Aang commented, holding his stomach, “My Fire Chakra would like to eat something other than onion-banana juice.” Aika chuckled and he grinned widely at her.

Pathik chuckled, “Good one! Moving on. This chakra deals with willpower and is blocked by shame. What are you ashamed of? What are your biggest disappointments in yourself?”

“I'm never going to firebend again. I can't.”

“You will never find balance if you deny this part of your life. You are the Avatar and therefore, you are a firebender.” Aang breathed in deeply. “Hmmm ... that chakra opened less like a flowing creek, and more like a ... burping bison.”

In response, the airbender gave a loud belch. “Tastes like onions and bananas, but strangely something else. Pickles?”

“That’s disgusting,” Aika remarked. Pathik shrugged and waved his hand for her to open her chakra. She honed in on her biggest disappointments, which actually seemed very trivial now; not winning a particular duelling tournament, not getting an O in a class, not being able to perform a spell on the first try. Her shame was easily overcome.

“The fourth chakra is located in the heart. It deals with love and is blocked by grief. Lay all your grief out in front of you. You both have indeed felt a great loss. But love is a form of energy, and it swirls all around us. The Air Nomads' and your parents’ love for you has not left this world. It is still inside of your heart, and is reborn in the form of new love.”

As the guru spoke, Aika could see her mother and father in front of her, holding their hands out, beckoning her to join them. As she let go of her grief, her visions of them smiled at her and patted their hearts, their families' signal that they loved each other. They used to do it all the time when she was in tournaments and they couldn’t talk to her. She made the same gesture back and they faded away.

When she opened her eyes, she realised that both she and the airbender beside her were crying and quickly wiped her eyes. “Can I have some onion-banana juice, please?” Aang queried.

Aika shook her head, “I’ll still pass on that, thanks.”

After Aang had had his disgusting juice and they had moved to yet another part of the Temple, the guru announced, “The fifth in the chain is the Sound Chakra, located in the throat. It deals with truth and is blocked by lies. The ones we tell ourselves.” Her breath hitched. So many lies, so many secrets. She had a million of them, how could she face them all? She lied to herself about her nightmares, her place in this world, her knowledge, her abilities, her potential to turn Dark. One by one, she acknowledged and accepted them, each one becoming more difficult than the last.

And finally, Zuko’s face appeared in her mind. For so long she had been telling herself that her attraction to him was temporary, didn’t mean much of anything and that she would get over him, even after the time they had spent together in Ba Sing Se. For so long she had been denying what her energy, her magic, was telling her. For so long she had been grappling with her feelings. She wasn’t ready to deal with this yet. She wasn’t ready to stop denying it. Pathik’s voice floated in, “You must open yourself up to the truth, Aika. You must allow yourself to embrace the love you feel and stop denying it.”

She mentally shook her head. If she allowed this, she opened herself up to more opportunities for pain and hurt and anguish. “Aika, you can do it. I believe in you.” Aang’s small encouragement broke the dam she had held back for so long. She broke out of the trance sobbing in joy, in pain, in heartache. She stood and walked away from both of them.

Aang was so confused at her reaction. What could her truth possibly be that accepting it was so difficult for her? He looked at Pathik, who explained, “Aika was denying her truth for so long, pushing it down deep inside her. This was always going to be her hardest chakra.”

Aang looked in the direction his older sister had walked and went to go find her. She was standing at a ledge facing out into the clouds surrounding the Air Temple, her arms wrapped around herself like she was giving herself a hug. Or she was trying to hold herself together. “Aika?” he asked.

She sniffled quietly and pulled herself up straighter in an effort to appear stronger than she felt. “Yes, Aang?”

“Are you okay?”

She turned, her eyes red from crying and nodded, “Yes, I am. I just… I’ve been holding back the emotion for so long… I was overwhelmed.” Aang could understand that. This was a very overwhelming and spiritual process. “I’m sorry, Aang.” The boy had a feeling she was not talking about her reaction. What else could she be sorry for?

“Are you coming back?”

She smiled, “Of course. I’ll just be a few moments.” He smiled briefly and walked back to the guru. True to her words, she came back a minute later and Pathik took them outside the Temple proper.

“The sixth pool of energy is the light chakra, located in the centre of the forehead,” Pathik explained. “It deals with insight and is blocked by illusion. The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. Things you think are separate and different are actually one and the same.”

Aang understood this one far quicker than Aika, “Like the four nations. We’re all connected, everything is connected.”

"That's right! Even the separation of the four elements is an illusion. If you open your mind, you will see that all the elements are one. Four parts of the same whole. Even metal is just a part of earth that has been purified and refined.” Once Aika understood what Pathik wanted from her, she connected herself to the ley lines and drew on their power. She had always known that everything was connected because she could feel the energy of the Earth constantly. Pathik smiled, understanding that this chakra had been the easiest for her. They waited for Aang to complete his small journey.

It was nightfall by the time they reached the top of the temple. Aika gazed up at the night sky, the stars that were so bright from here, she could almost believe she could reach out and touch them. “This is the last chakra, isn't it?” she asked.

“Yes,” Pathik confirmed. “Once you open this chakra, you, Aang, will be able to go in and out of the Avatar State at will and when you are in the Avatar State, you will have complete control and awareness of all your actions. Aika, I am not sure what awaits you on the other side, however, you will be a great deal more powerful.”

She knew she had to help Aang through this last one, she couldn’t bear to let him get hurt the way she knew he would be in the future. “I think we should do this one at a time,” she declared in a way that left no room for argument. “Aang, you first.”

The boy nodded gravely and assumed his meditation stance. “Let’s do this.” She sat beside him and Pathik in front of him. 

“The Thought Chakra is located at the crown of the head. It deals with pure cosmic energy and is blocked by earthly attachment. Meditate on what attaches you to this world. Now, let all of those attachments go. Let them flow down the river, forgotten.”

Aang abruptly came out of his meditation. “What? Why would I let go of Katara? I... I love her!”

“Learn to let her go, or you cannot let the pure cosmic energy flow in from the universe,” Pathik stated.

“Why would I choose cosmic energy over Katara?” Aang threw his hands up. “How could it be a bad thing that I feel an attachment to her? Three chakras ago that was a good thing!”

“You must learn to let go.”

“I’m sorry, but I can't let go of Katara.” 

Aika held up her hand gently when the guru went to speak and laid her other one on Aang shoulder. “Hey, Aang, remember what I told you? Before we got here?” He nodded slowly. “Let Katara go for a little while, and you can find your way back to her later. I promise. You will find her again on the other side of this.”

“You promise?” he asked, voice tiny and unsure. It was sometimes so easy to forget that he was a twelve-year-old boy, but times like now, she was reminded with all the force of a sledgehammer. She cursed everything and everyone she could think of once again for dumping the burdens of the world on his small shoulders.

“I promise.” He took a deep breath. “Katara is waiting for you on the other side. You love her as Aang. Let her go as Aang so you can find her and love her again as the Avatar. No matter what you hear, no matter what you see. She can and will wait for you.”

The airbender turned back to the guru who was studying his sister closely. “Okay, I’ll try.”

Pathik nodded. “Now think of your attachments and let them go. Let the pure cosmic energy flow.”

The change was nothing short of miraculous. She could feel it as the energy gathered at the top of the temple shifted and moved, flowing into the small boy next to her. His tattoos glowed and the ground began to shake. A sphere of air swirled around him, lifting him from his sitting position and Aika cast a sticking charm on herself to make sure she didn’t get blown away. She watched as his glowing eyes opened and he moved his hands, bending a circle of water, earth and fire around him, rotating in an orbit around him. He was the Avatar and the elements were balanced in him, working together in perfect harmony.

Slowly, he dropped down to his feet, the elements dissipating or falling to the ground once again. “I did it!” the young Avatar cried in triumph. “Aika, you were right. I understand now. It’s your turn.” The energy-bender closed her eyes and sat with a ram-rod straight back. She didn’t know what was waiting for her on the other side of this. She must have looked nervous because Aang said, “I’m here too, Aika. You’ve got this, and you’ll come out the other side like I did.” She nodded nervously and closed her eyes.

She drifted.

It was all white… Even the dress she wore was white. She had no idea where she was but she could see an outline of a person standing in front of... Was that a mountain?... on a rock, so she headed in that direction. She got to the rock, but the man didn’t move at the sound of her footsteps, instead gazed at the mountain. Then the mountain moved. What in the name of Morgana was that? 

The head of a giant lion-turtle appeared before her and the man. Shocking her even more, the lion-turtle spoke, “In the era before the Avatar, we bent not the elements but the energy within ourselves. Your kind continued this practice where others began bending elements.” Aika had no clue what was going on. She looked nervously at the man next to her, but he didn’t seem to notice. “You, Aikaterina Isabella, daughter of Archimedes and Asumi, are the perfect one to begin to teach others the practice once again. For that, you will require more knowledge and power.”

She frowned at the lion-turtle, which seemed weird, but this whole place was weird. “Well, how exactly am I supposed to get that?”

“With me,” the man beside her said. 

“Who are you?” she asked.

Simultaneously, they faced each other. The man in front of her had shoulder-length raven hair and startling green eyes. His features sort of reminded her of Harry Potter, but more refined and aristocratic than Potter could ever look. He gave her a small courteous bow. “I am Salazar Slytherin, and I crossed to this universe one thousand years before you did.” The little revelation knocked her on her ass. Her knees gave out and she fell backwards, a squeak of surprise escaping her lips. Not for a second did she take her eyes off the stranger in front of her. 

This was the evilest man in history? This was the man who had caused so much hate and bigotry? This was the man whose legacy had decimated the Wizarding World not once, but twice? She wanted to throw up. She wanted to kick and scream and cry. But she couldn’t move. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from his kind green eyes, even if there was a mischievousness in his smile. But it didn’t look malevolent, more like an amused and slightly devious upturn of lips that she had often seen on the Weasley Twins. “I understand your shock and apprehension. The lion-turtles here have kept me apprised of our old world. I am deeply sorry at how it has turned out and how my legacy has hurt you.” She saw no hint that he was lying.

But still, “How can I believe you? How… is this real?”

Slytherin tilted his head and shrugged, his movements lined with an innate grace that spoke of training in high etiquette. “This is as real as anything else, I suppose. I was brought over to this universe shortly after I left the castle in a similar manner to yourself. However, my journey is neither here nor there at this moment. What you are required to know now is that you and I were brought here to this universe for a specific reason. Mine was to gather knowledge of this universe, and ours. Yours is to enact on that knowledge to bring energy-bending back to this world.”

“How could I possibly do that? Why me?” she croaked. She really wanted the Weasley Twins to jump out from behind something and tell her this was all a giant elaborate prank. Or a really crazy dream. Morgana, she’d even take a nightmare right now!

The lion-turtle answered, “You will merge your spirits. Slytherin’s knowledge, power and skill will become yours. Think of it similar to the Avatar's past lives. He is able to communicate with his past selves for greater knowledge and understanding.” She didn’t know how a giant half-turtle half-lion hybrid could smile, but it did… And it thoroughly scared her. 

But that didn’t mean she had to accept this. “What if I don’t want to?” she asked defiantly.

Slytherin looked deeply apologetic and surprisingly without any guile. “I didn’t think that this was my destiny either, Aikaterina. However, I have accepted it. It has to be done. I have gathered a lot of knowledge over the past thousand years. When we merge, my memories will also become yours. Sift through them and you will understand why we must do this.” He held out his hand for her to grasp. “Please. Or I must wait another thousand years and by then, this world will be in ashes.”

Ashes didn’t sound too good. She glanced between the giant lion-turtle with its penetrating gaze, and Salazar Slytherin, the man whose very name was synonymous with fanaticism and prejudice. Ashes… She had grown fond of this universe and didn’t want to see it die. Not really seeing a choice considering everything, she whispered, “Okay.”

She grabbed his hand.

Aang had never heard a scream so bloodcurdling, terrifying or horrible before in his life. He watched as Aika fell into her meditative trance to open her seventh chakra and started glowing, an outline of a rich blue surrounding her. He had never seen that before and by the look on his face, neither had the guru. It probably wasn’t even five minutes later that she collapsed on the ground as if all the strings of her life had suddenly been cut and the screaming started. Aang covered his ears, but they seemed to reverberate in his very soul. She thrashed and writhed on the ground, and streaks of green light seemed to snake into her blue aura, merging, blending in and spreading out to create the most brilliant light blue colour he had ever seen. Not even the sky on the clearest and sunniest day could compare to this colour. 

Soon, the screaming stopped. The blue aura surrounding her faded into her skin. But she didn’t wake. Was she… She couldn’t be… Guru Pathik stepped forward and placed his hand on her forehead, his eyes seeing beyond what was in front of him. “She will be okay, Avatar Aang. Her energy is recentering and settling back into place. She may not wake for a few days, however.”

He let out the breath he hadn’t known he was holding. “A few days? We don’t have that long! I have to get back to my team to help with the preparations for ending the war.”

Pathik grimaced. “She is okay to be moved, however, she must be protected. She is very vulnerable in this state as she has no awareness, no senses. It is best if you get a healer to watch over her when you get back to the Earth Kingdom.”

He would get her back to Katara, the only healer he knew. The Avatar called Appa with the whistle and the bison arrived a minute or so later. Carefully, he airbended her into the saddle, laying her down and arranging everything around her comfortably. “Thank you, Guru Pathik. For helping us. Appa, yip-yip!” When they were high in the sky, on their way back to the Earth Kingdom, Aang looked back at his sister and hoped she really would be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congrats to everyone who guessed Slytherin!!! XD
> 
> For anyone who is apprehensive about where the story went there, I’m not planning on making any drastic changes to Aika's personality. Just think of her becoming even more badass, with a larger core, a shit ton more knowledge and a mentor to speak to about energy-bending. Think of it like Aang’s connection to Roku. Slytherin becomes a sort of past life, except she has access to his power and memories. She is still her own person, just like Aang.


	20. Fate is a Fickle Bitch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.

No one could find Katara. That was the first clue that something was wrong when Aang, Sokka and Toph arrived back at Ba Sing Se. They had found and picked up Toph on the way and both of them got extremely worried when Aang described what had happened to her. They had stopped by King Kuei’s palace, but she hadn’t been there. The King had waved off their worry, telling them that his bear would have sensed if there was any danger.

They then went back to the house they had been staying in but she wasn’t there. They had left Aika with Appa as they looked, thinking that this would be quick.

“Katara must be in trouble!” Aang pronounced.

“Oh, no!” Sokka exclaimed.

“Wait! Someone's at the door,” Toph said just as someone knocked on the door. “Actually, I know who it is. It's an old friend of mine.” She walked over to the door and opened it, showing Iroh behind the door. “Glad to see you're okay.”

“I need your help.” That was the second and final clue. Sokka and Aang were shocked and angry upon seeing him and got into a fighting stance. Toph calmly smiled and waved at him. Momo, however, flew away upon seeing the old general.

“You guys know each other?” Sokka asked disbelievingly.

Toph nodded, “I met him in the woods once and knocked him down. Then he gave me some tea and some very good advice.”

Iroh didn’t want to wait outside much longer, exposed. “May I come in?” Toph nodded and he walked in before turning to the group. “Princess Azula is here in Ba Sing Se.”

“She must have Katara,” Aang expressed.

“She has captured my nephew as well,” Iroh added.

“Then we'll work together to fight Azula, and save Katara and Zuko.”

Sokka approached Aang and pointed at him. “Whoa there! You lost me at ‘Zuko’.”

“I know how you must feel about my nephew,” the ex-general moved forward and placed his hands on Sokka's shoulders. “But believe me when I tell you that there is good inside him.”

Sokka pushed Iroh away. “‘Good inside him’ isn't enough! Why don't you come back when it's outside him too, okay?”

“Katara's in trouble and Aika’s still out of it. All of Ba Sing Se is in trouble. Working together is our best chance.” Sokka's expression morphed into one of understanding and nodded. 

Iroh began walking back to the door. “I brought someone along who might help us.”

Aang and Iroh were walking along the tunnel Aang was creating into the Crystal Catacombs, Iroh holding a small flame in his hands to light their path. They had chosen to leave Aika back on Appa, the bison finding somewhere to hide. Iroh was the one who broke the silence first, “So, the girl on the bison...”

“Aika? Yeah, what about her?”

“She came into the shop where Zuko and I were working a few times before I opened my own tea shop.”

Aang stopped his earthbending for a second to look at the ex-general. “Huh?”

Iroh smiled, “I think she and my nephew love each other.”

The Avatar couldn’t wrap his head around that little nugget of information. “What?”

“She’s a sweet girl, Aika. Always stopped in for a jasmine tea when she could. But they couldn’t hide it, not from an old man like me.” Iroh looked away and stared off, as if remembering something, not seeing Aang's shocked expression. “They are hiding it from themselves too. Probably don’t even realise that they have such strong feelings.”

The Avatar suddenly realised why Aika had had such a strong reaction to the truth chakra. She had to face the fact that she was in love with Zuko. “I think she knows now,” he admitted to Zuko’s uncle.

“Oh?”

Aang started his earthbending again. “We went to see a guru so I could unlock the Avatar State. She came with me and our fifth chakra, we had to face all the lies we tell ourselves. What does that make her to me now?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did she betray me, us, by falling in love with our enemy? Would she have left us? Joined the other side of the war?” Is that why she said she was sorry?

“Do you feel betrayed?” Iroh queried calmly.

Aang grunted when a particularly stubborn rock didn’t want to move. “Not really. Just a bit stupid, actually. She would have been hiding it for so long.”

Iroh shrugged. “I cannot presume to know the answers, but, she may have been trying to bury her feelings so she wouldn’t have to choose between you and Zuko. But do not judge before you ask her her reasons. Life is not so black and white. Sometimes, life is like this dark tunnel. You can't always see the light at the end of the tunnel, but if you just keep moving,” Aang moved the rocks away one last time and Iroh's fire blew out. The ex-general smiled, “you will come to a better place.”

The Avatar and Iroh found Katara and Zuko chained to a wall together. Aang helped Katara and they were about to tell them all to escape, but Iroh waved them ahead walking to talk alone with Zuko, “Go help your other friends. We'll catch up with you.” The two benders walked away, Katara and Aang both looking back at Zuko before leaving, but each with their own reasons.

They started running, Katara whisper-yelled, “We have got to find Sokka, Toph and Aika!”

In between breaths, the airbender puffed out, “Aika is with Appa. She’s… not well. You’ll need to heal her.”

“What happened?” the girl demanded to know immediately.

“I’ll tell you when we’re back with Appa!”

Suddenly, a bolt of blue lightning attacked them from behind. Aang stopped it using earthbending, spinning to see Azula was the source of the lightning. Katara used her waterbending to stop another lightning attack, vapourising the water and creating a thick mist. This allowed the Fire Nation princess to jump onto a nearby crystal and firebended two blasts of blue fire. Together, Aang and Katara used waterbending to stop the blasts. Azula finished her jump by landing on a rock pillar, but Aang used earthbending on the pillar, and Azula gasped once she noticed the pillar crumbling. She jumped off at the last second before she could fall and landed between Katara and Aang. She points at both of them, preparing to attack. Another fire blast halted her attack, and they all glanced over to see the source of the fire blast. Zuko. The ex-prince looked from Azula to Katara and Aang, seeming to choose who to attack. 

The Avatar could tell when the prince had chosen his side. Mentally, he scolded his older sister as he used airbending to jump away from Zuko’s blast. How could she love him? Their enemy? He hoped she woke up so he could shout at her. On his side, Azula started duelling with Katara, and Zuko threw multiple fire blasts at the Avatar. Seeing the two girls distracted, he said to Zuko as he dodged the fire once again, “She wouldn’t want you to do this.”

Zuko’s movements paused just long enough for Aang to get a particularly powerful airblast in. The prince glanced over to his sister for a second to find that one of Katara’s water tentacles had captured Azula's hand and another one had captured her foot. Zuko ran over to free his sister using firebending to break the tentacles. The two siblings looked at each other and nodded once, knowing what the other said from years of training together back before Zuko was banished, and they swapped fighting partners. Azula ran toward the Avatar and Zuko and Katara started fighting, Katara with water whips in her hands and Zuko started using his fire whips.

Dai Li agents started swarming the place and Aang knew that he would need the Avatar State in order to get out with Katara in one piece. Preparing for the power, Aang’s tattoos started glowing and he rose into the air… a sharp pain exploded in his back and he cried out, falling to the ground unconscious. Katara saw this and created a wave to catch him. She looked down at Aang with tears in her eyes. Azula, however, stood proudly, her fingers smoking and her eyes glinting in triumph. She knew she had killed the Avatar. 

The Prince and Princess prepared to attack Aang and Katara, but a surprising blast of fire stopped them, Iroh jumping down from the wall of the cave and shielding Aang and Katara from the two Fire siblings. “You've got to get out of here! I'll hold them off as long as I can!” He sent some more fire blasts at Zuko and Azula.

With a heavy heart, Katara walked away slowly with Aang's body to a nearby waterfall, and she used waterbending to lift her and Aang up its path, getting away.

She was lucky when she made her way out of the caves that Appa was there, carrying Sokka, Toph, King Kuei and Bosco the bear, along with the still comatose Aika. The waterbender quickly made her way over, but then, a massive fireball was fired at them, making Appa jerk to the side roughly and everyone in the saddle went flying. None of them realised Aika was jolted off and she had fallen to the ground.

Katara managed to get Sokka to pull the injured Avatar into the saddle and they took off quickly, not wanting to be caught by another fireball. Appa moaned sadly, recognising his friend is hurt. Immediately, Katara opened the Spirit Water vial around her neck and used her water healing on Aang's wounded back. The glow from the spirit water diminished, and Katara started crying, not being able to do anything more to help him. Suddenly, Aang's tattoos glowed for a second and he gasped for air. Katara looked at Aang, who smiled a little, and she held him closer. It was Sokka who noticed, “Hey, where’s Aika?” Everyone shot up, looking for her (except Aang and Toph), but then Sokka looked back at the land they had just flown from. He sees a glint of red and green on the ground - Aika’s hair and green Earth Kingdom clothes, his mind supplied - just before the area was swarmed in Fire Nation soldiers and Dai Li agents. “Oh spirits... ” he breathed out in horror.

“What?” Toph demanded.

“She’s been captured by the Fire Nation.”

Zuko was standing by his sister’s side as she laid haphazardly on the Earth Kingdom throne. Azula looked at him shrewdly, “I’ve been meaning to ask you, Zuzu. How did you get rid of your scar and get everything to grow back? Even your ear is normal again.”

The prince was saved from answering the question when a soldier requested their counsel. They waved him in and he dropped to his knees in front of them, “Your Highnesses, we trailed the Avatar and his friends as they left as you requested. Some of the men have continued to follow them, but they are proving difficult to track on that bison. However, they found an unconscious girl at the point where they escaped. The soldiers who found her believed that she got in the way of the Avatar’s escape and they knocked her out. They brought her back here as they believe she may have some information as to their possible heading.”

Azula waved her hand. “Bring in the girl so we can determine whether to send her to a healer for her information or to the cells.”

The soldier gestured to another one standing by the door and he opened them, revealing another group of soldiers carrying a girl with dark red flames for hair. Aika. Zuko glanced at his sister, but she didn’t look gleeful or murderous. She looked contemplative. He realised that she had no idea who Aika was. He supposed it could be possible. Back at that deserted village, Aika had not revealed herself before she knocked out Azula, but he had no idea if they had run into each other at some other time with the Avatar. 

“Well, wake her up!” Azula ordered.

The soldiers bowed and placed Aika on the ground. “We cannot, Princess. We have tried. We do not know what is wrong with her.”

Azula gritted her teeth. “Well then, she is useless. Chuck her back out onto the street or kill her. I do not care.”

“No!” Zuko shouted before he could stop himself.

The princess turned to her brother. “My, my, dear Zuzu. Know her do you?” she mocked, smirking.

“Leave us,” he commanded the soldiers. “And leave the girl.”

Azula stood up from her place on the throne as he walked down to kneel beside Aika. She was breathing, barely, but completely unresponsive when he tried to nudge her or wake her. “Zuzu, who is she?” Azula’s tone was cold and deadly. 

He hoped Aika would forgive him. He lied, “She is my betrothed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a long chapter by any means.
> 
> Also, please just assume that at one point, Toph and Iroh ran into each other on their travels. Toph likes to sneak off after an argument with Katara sometimes. :)


	21. The Awakening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.
> 
> Please remember that this story mostly follows Aika, so the next few chapters won’t have much of the Gaang. Another note, please remember again that I aged up Zuko for a reason. He is 20 now and Aika would have turned 18 by now. So what happens over the next few chapters is not really that odd when their age is taken into account. 
> 
> Enjoy!

“No, Mai is your girlfriend. Father has approved of Mai already and when we get back home, I’m sure he can arrange for a contract between you. You have no need for the Earth Kingdom girl.” He didn’t respond right away, continuing to check over the girl, which frustrated Azula but she knew he wouldn’t answer while preoccupied. He was stubborn like that. The peasant girl had no visible bumps, scrapes or scratches. Nothing to indicate that there was something wrong. So why wouldn’t she wake? How annoying.

Zuko called out, “Guards! Get a healer immediately.”

Azula scoffed, “You could just let her die. Then you would be free of her.”

The prince glared at his sister. “No, Azula. I have just restored my honour. I am not going to abandon the girl I am betrothed to and risk losing it that way. Besides, I became betrothed to her when I was still banished from the Fire Nation. Now that I am the crown prince once more, it is up to Father.”

The princess didn’t want him to make sense, but he did. “Fiiinnee,” she whined. “When we leave, she will come back to the Fire Nation with us, whether she is awake or not. Father will judge her.”

The doors opened again as the healers dashed in. They took stock of the girl laying on the ground and politely said, “Your Highness, please step back so we can have a look at her.” Zuko glared but did so, not liking being told what to do. “We must take her back to the infirmary so we can conduct more tests.”

Zuko held up a hand before they could touch her, bent over and scooped Aika up in his arms, her head falling against his shoulder and her red hair covering her face. “Then lead the way.” The healers were shocked for a second that the prince would carry a peasant girl in his arms, but they quickly covered it and hurried to the infirmary, the firebender easily keeping pace even with the extra weight. He placed her gently on the bed they indicated and stated firmly, “You will do everything you can to save her. If she dies, so will you.” They nodded fearfully and immediately got to work. 

Azula, who had followed curiously, caught that statement. She didn’t know whether to be angered that he had not just let her die, frustrated that it meant one of her friends was not going to be with Zuko (which made it even easier for her to control him), or proud that he was finally coming into his own by threatening people’s lives. She settled on a bit of all three.

As her brother was walking out, she caught his arm, pulling him to a standstill. “Don’t think you are getting out of an explanation, Zuzu. Spill.”

He rolled his eyes. “I was banished and then declared an enemy of the Fire Nation, as you well know. When Uncle Iroh and I were trying to live on the run, she caught my eye. I figured I would never see Mai again and would never be allowed home, so I…” he looked away in shame. “I felt something for her. I figured, why not?” He hoped she wouldn’t realise that he had never answered her question about his scar.

Azula hummed. She supposed she could also understand his reasoning for affiliating with the peasant. And Princes were allowed multiple consorts. Alright, she would see how this one went. Zuzu was allowed his version of fun, just like she was allowed hers. He would marry Mai, her friend, and have this one on the side. Win-win. Of course, she didn’t tell Zuzu her plans and Mai wouldn’t like that her husband had a consort, but she didn’t really care. She would mention this to Father before he made his decision. “Is she a bender?” He nodded once, shook off her hold and walked away. An earthbender in the Fire Nation. Father would have a riot. But that was Zuko’s battle, not hers.

Aika stared down at her hands and found they were way too large. They were also carrying a sword in one, and a wand in the other. She had been simultaneously using magic and sword-fighting to keep the would-be intruders at bay. She cast spells she had never used or known, and hacked away at enemies with a skill she didn’t have, in a choreographed dance. “Salazar, my friend, I believe we have driven them to retreat.” She turned and saw the biggest and burliest man she had ever seen. He had shoulder-length red hair, a sword and a wand as well and blood splattered all over his clothes. His voice had a very strong Scottish accent.

“An astute observation, Godric. Your eyesight is impeccable,” she remarked, in a voice not her own. 

The burly man, Godric, guffawed. “If your sword is as sharp as your tongue, then a great many enemies will fall by your hand.”

She rolled her eyes, “Let’s get back to Rowena and Helga. They would be very worried by now.” Both she and the man sheathed their swords and she felt the familiar sense of Apparition, being squeezed and pulled through a hole way too small, and landing on the other side in a place very familiar. The Hogwarts entrance hall.

She vaguely recalled this being the seventh out of body experience she had had lately. Or was it the eighth?

_Concentrate_ , she heard. _Do not let my memories overtake you._ How was she supposed to do that? What was this? _Focus on your occlumency_. She did as the voice told her. 

Everything went black. She brought forth her mind palace and placed herself within her library of memories. “Show yourself,” she called out to the voice.

“Hello, Aika.” The voice said behind her. She spun and saw Salazar Slytherin standing there.

“How did you get into my mind?” she demanded.

He smiled, “We have merged spirits, my dear. I am now you, you are now me. My past is yours and yours is mine. Do you really think that being inside your mind is difficult?”

She dropped onto the ground, inhaling and exhaling deeply, trying to keep from having a panic attack. “Okay… Okay… This is… Okay… What happens next?”

He shrugged. “I am not sure. I know our grand destiny is to bring energy-bending back to this world. I don’t really know how to begin that process, but I suppose Fate will guide us on our journey.” He looked around. “This is where you store your memories?” She nodded. He walked over to a shelf and peered at the books. “Each book is a memory?” She nodded again. He continued studying the shelves. “You have a decent filing system, not one that I would use, but decent all the same.” She glared at him. “I am just commenting, my dear. Would you permit me access to this room in your mind while you were not here?”

“Um, why?” she inquired wearily.

He grinned, “I am going to integrate my memories into yours. Think of it as sorting, cataloguing and adding to your library. The integration of memories will help merge our spirits further and when I am done, we should be one and the same person.”

She nodded, that was quite logical. She could deal with logic. “Okay. You can stay here while I’m not. But how do I know I can trust you?”

He laughed, “My dear, I am now you. Harming you is like harming myself. I am not suicidal.” That was a fair point. 

“Okay…” She watched as he got to work and then wondered out loud, “How long have I been falling into memories?”

“Oh about a week now,” Salazar replied lazily.

“What?!”

He nodded absently. “Yes. The merge itself was quite painful and completely drained your core. Then your magical core had to shift itself and integrate with mine, so it took your body a few days to do so and then recharge your core enough to start healing your body. Do not worry, the lion-turtles promised that you will look exactly the same as you did, except your eyes. They may have changed colour.”

Aika was sure that her ability to go into shock had now been disabled because she actually felt calm. No, more than that, accepting. Something must be seriously wrong with her; probably one too many crucios had screwed with her brain functionality. “So, how do I wake up?”

“You probably do not want to do that yet. You will be in a lot of pain,” he stated. She nodded. 

While he worked on her memory library, they got to know each other. Well, she called it getting to know each other, he would probably have called it being absolutely nosy. But nonetheless, once she pointed out that they were literally the same person now, he conceded and told her anything she wanted to know. That didn’t mean he was sporting about it. 

“So you weren’t an evil son of a bitch and you didn’t hate muggleborns?”

He rolled his eyes, “I like to think I was not. I wanted magical children from non-magical families to assimilate to our culture and not be allowed to go back to their muggle families. And I distrusted what you call muggles. You would too if you had seen the witch burnings.”

“The House crests were based on your animagus forms? You had the form of a snake?”

“Yes, a python.”

“You and Helga Hufflepuff? Really? I would have pegged you with Rowena Ravenclaw myself.” He rolled his eyes.

“So you actually left a giant snake sleeping underneath a school?”

“Emerald was meant to be a last of defence for the castle.”

“You named a _basilisk_ Emerald?” That just got another eye roll. 

“Parseltongue is a written language too?!” she asked excitedly. New knowledge always made her excited. It was why she was a Ravenclaw.

“Of course! What is known as Sanskrit today is a derivative of the Naga’s language parselscript. I have a few memories of books I have read in the language. Once we merge completely, you will have the ability as well.”

“Awesome!”

The more they spoke, the more she liked him. He had a prickly personality, was exceptionally arrogant and uppity, kind of like Malfoy, was a font of useful information and spells, and actually a really good teacher. She could tell that he enjoyed passing on his knowledge, even if his audience only consisted of one snarky irreverent Ravenclaw. His complaints about being stuck with her as his punishment always brought a smile to her face. Slytherin kind of resembled an insane cross between Malfoy, Snape and McGonagall. She shuddered at the mental image, which caused him to look at her strangely.

He also explained what true energy-bending was, similar to performing magic, only it was all wandless. He taught her how to access her core and move her energy throughout her body like a firebender would. It took practice, but she took to it like a turtleduck to water. It helped that she had so much energy now that they had merged cores. Of course, she wasn’t actually doing it as well, since she was inside her mind, but she definitely could learn the technique. “Remember, when you wake up, you will need to readjust how much power you put into your casting. You have the power of two now. You may find you no longer need a wand to cast at all,” he was saying.

“Hey, professor, are we sure we can’t go home? I bet everyone would be jealous if they knew how much power we hold!”

“No,” he said flatly.

“Really? Not even if you could rub Godric’s face in it?” He stared at her with a blank expression, but she could see the glint of mischievousness in his eyes. “Oh yeah, you so would!”

Time was different in her mind, or rather, time was irrelevant; it was her mind after all. So she had no idea how much time had passed when Professor Slytherin - she had taken to calling him professor when she figured out how much he loved teaching - mentioned, “You can wake up now. The worst of the pain will be over.”

She jumped up from where she had been lazing on the ground. “How do I wake up?”

He raised an eyebrow like he thought she was incredibly stupid. “How do you usually exit your memory library?”

“Oh!” She said in surprise. “I’ll see you later, professor!” She walked to the exit she had built in her mind a long time ago.

The pain was more like a dull ache. She still woke up groaning though. She absolutely knew she would have to take a dose of wiggenweld.

“Miss? Miss? Can you hear me? Someone tell the Prince. Miss?” a woman was asking.

“Yeah, I can hear you,” she replied to the voice. Who were they calling? Suddenly, she didn’t care if they were calling the Queen of England, Merlin and Morgana together, the light _burned_. “Could someone turn off the lights?” she groaned. The bright red behind her eyelids faded to black and she relaxed in bliss. Thank Merlin.

She heard and felt people talking and bustling all around her, but she didn’t dare open her eyes to see who they were. She just lay there and listened, eavesdropping on conversations. She could hear snippets, but nothing to piece together where she was or how she got there. She heard heavy doors opening with a slight creak and strong, powerful strides. “She is awake?” She recognised that voice at least. Zuko.

“Yes, Your Highness. She awoke a few minutes ago. She complained of the light so we closed the curtains and dimmed the fire.”

“Leave us,” he commanded. More movement and those heavy doors closed once again. “Aika?”

Slowly, carefully, she cracked open one eye slightly. When she saw that the light was dimmed as that woman had said, she opened it more. Deeming it safe, she lifted her other eyelid as well, blinking rapidly to wet her eyes and focus on her surroundings. Sitting up in the massive four-poster bed, she immediately saw that the room was lavish, with red drapes, gold floors, red and gold adornments on the walls and gold and black furniture. It was so opulent, but so very very Gryffindor. Involuntarily, she spoke, “Is this what the Gryffindor common room looks like?”

“What?” he asked, confused. She turned to her right and studied Zuko who was sitting in a plush red and gold chair beside her. He was wearing a dark red tunic with gold lining and a gold belt, a red shirt underneath, red pants and brown almost black boots, with a gold stripe down the middle and they curved upwards at the toes, his short hair pulled up in a top knot, with a small fringe falling into his eyes and a small golden fire emblem tucked inside the knot. He looked...hot. 

When she looked into his eyes, he gasped and reached his hands out to cup her face, making sure she couldn’t turn away from him. “Your eyes, Aika,” he breathed out. He had never seen anything like them before. She had once had eyes the colour of icebergs, but now they looked like the sky had mixed with emerald green to create this vivid and captivating hue. He leaned closer, drowning in them.

He was so close to her, she could see the tiny orange and red flecks in his golden eyes. She was going to look back on this and blame her wonky brain due to her spiritual merging with a being believed dead for over a thousand years, but she closed the distance between them almost immediately. No matter how much spiritual mumbo jumbo she had been put through and no matter how much crap would be thrown her way in the future, this would always stay the same. Heat and passion, white-hot need burned through them. She moaned softly, gripping onto his tunic with one hand and trailing the other up to run her hands through the ink-black hair at the nape of his neck. He gripped her waist and pulled her closer. 

All too quickly, it was over; he pulled away but the fire blazed in his eyes hungrily devouring her features. If she didn’t already… care… for him, she would have squirmed or told him off, but as it was, she kind of liked him ogling her. As long as she was the only one he ogled. Yes, she could be just as possessive. 

“What happened Aika?” he asked, leaning back in the chair. His casual dismissal of their brief make-out session both angered her and turned her on at the same time… He was good at this… sometimes. He raised his eyebrow and smirked as if he knew what she was thinking, crossing his right leg over his left knee, and linked his fingers together in an ‘I’m waiting’ position. At that moment, he looked every bit the calm, collected prince waiting on his subject to speak. She growled internally, seeing this as the small power play that it was. If she let on that his actions affected her in any way, she lost the game.

So she settled back onto the bed, propping up the pillows on the headboard to lean upright against them. Now, how did one explain that a lion-turtle had forced them to merge their own spirit with the spirit of a thousand-year-old man from another dimension? The same dimension they happened to originate from? Nope, she probably would take that one to her grave. What was another secret to add to the pile? “Um… Well… We went to see a guru… Opening the chakras and things… Kind of hard to explain. Let’s just say I opened myself up to too much cosmic energy and my energy-bending core couldn’t handle the strain. I passed out and woke up… here. Where is ‘here’, by the way?” She asked, waving her hands to indicate the room they were in.

He cringed slightly and whispered, “You’re in the Fire Nation palace.”

She stuck a finger in her right ear, attempting to clean it out. “Say that again? I must have something in my ear because I could have sworn you said ‘Fire Nation palace’.”

This time, he looked sheepish and rubbed the back of his neck. “Um, I did.” She looked at him blankly. “Aika?”

Her voice was barely a whisper, “I think you better start from the beginning.”

So he told her the story, starting from being captured by Azula in Ba Sing Se, all the way up to this very moment. She never once spoke, just gazed at him with those new intense blue-green eyes. When he was finished, she finally summed up, “So Aang might be dead, your sister might have killed him, you betrayed your Uncle by helping your sister, and then you proceeded to bring me here and tell everyone that I am engaged to be married to you. I’ve also been out for about two weeks. That about right?”

“Yes?” His confirmation was phrased more like a question.

She held up a finger in the universal gesture to wait. Closing her eyes, she focused on the energy that she had placed into the tracking band she had once given Aang. Their time in the Northern Water Tribe felt like millennia ago now. Oh thank Merlin and Morgana, he’s alive. The fact that her little brother was still breathing was the only thing keeping her rooted in the bed instead of storming through the palace and ripping Azula to shreds. Remembering what had occurred before, in the original timeline of this world, she knew that their plan of attack on the day of the solar eclipse would fail and that Zuko would abandon his father once and for all.

“Aika, I’m so sorry.” She opened her right eye and glanced at him. He looked so contrite, it was actually cute.

He wasn’t getting off that easy. She opened her other eye and raised a brow, “What are you sorry for, Zuko?”

“I’m sorry that I hurt you,” he said, looking down, ashamed.

What was it about this man that made it difficult to stay mad? She reckoned it was his lost puppy look. He was always sporting it when he had no idea what to do or what the next step was, so beat down and unsure of himself that he didn’t know how to make the right choices. However, he was not going to get off that easy, not this time. Knowing that they were both passionate people and preferred to lash out with anger, she deduced that it would be harder on him if she showed no emotion. He knew how to deal with anger and heat, but ice? Not so much. So she maintained her cool and aloof facade and her tone of voice was cold when she next spoke.

“Look, Zuko, I’m angry at you, furious, livid, heartbroken and absolutely grieving the loss of my brother. And you are one of the causes of all that. But ranting, raging and hexing the shit out of you won’t get me anywhere. Right now, seeing as how you have foolishly declared us engaged - which I will get back at you for by the way - we need to come up with a strategy. And then we are going to talk about your poor life choices because I want to know just what you were thinking when you agreed to help Azula over your uncle, _again_.”

He visibly flinched and his kicked puppy look got worse. “Okay.”

She looked away from that gaze, determined to stay mad. “But first, food and a bath. I feel awful. So get out.”

He stood and helped her stand. She felt weak from lack of muscle usage, but she waved him off before he could touch her and walked on her own accord. “I’ll send in the servants to help you and the healers to check on you. I’ll be back in an hour?” She nodded once and turned away from him coolly. As soon as he left, she set about resetting her glamour bracelet to show that she had golden eyes. Thankfully, she could do it wandlessly.

The next hour was a blur of women coming in and out of the room. She had requested the clothes that she came here in, the maids had directed her to a dresser in which her tattered Earth Kingdom dress had been stored. In the pile of cloth, she blessedly found her wand and her charmed bag. She was thrilled to hear the maid tell her that the prince had explicitly told them not to get rid of it. She could see the woman’s distaste for the green colours, but she didn’t care. When no one was looking, she chugged a few potions and instantly felt better. She was going to have to do a stocktake of potions and ingredients soon, she was probably running out.

After the bath - the maids helped her with that too, by washing her hair which was super weird - she dressed in dark red, almost black pants, a crimson crop top, an odd dark red and gold… was this some sort of neck armour necklace thing?... and a red wrap was tied around her hips, open at the front and tied with a red and gold ribbon/belt that hung from a circular buckle with a gold symbol of fire embroidered on it. The maids then forced some gold and red armband jewellery on her and these fingerless gloves made of red silk with gold lining, that came up to her elbow and hooked around her middle finger to stay in place. Half of her hair was tied in the traditional Fire Nation top knot with the emblem placed in it and the other half was left to flow free. She almost collapsed on the ground when she saw herself, wanting to cry in deep shame. She could feel the Slytherin part of her shrivelling up and dying. She had been turned into a Gryffindor!

Gathering what was left of her Ravenclaw/Slytherin pride, she took off her left arm glove and put on her wand holster, and then replaced the glove, casting a concealment charm on it so it wouldn’t be noticed under the silk. She was stunned when her whole arm disappeared. Way too overpowered. She cancelled the charm and thankfully, her arm returned. She would have to run through her duelling exercises again to regulate her energy output. Until then, she took off the holster and hid it in her charmed bag, before she slid the wand into the glove itself. The tight lining of the glove secured it in place as she swung her arm down by her side experimentally to ensure it wouldn’t fall out. 

A knock on the door and they swung open to reveal Zuko followed by servants with carts of food. They left them in the room and closed the door, leaving the two alone again. Zuko thought he almost swallowed his tongue when he saw her in Fire Nation clothing. She looked… gorgeous. Although seeing the exposed skin of her taut stomach, he didn’t know if he would like anyone else seeing that much of her. “The servants told my father that you have woken up. He has requested that we see him the day after tomorrow. He is in a war council all day today and tomorrow.”

“Request means ordered, right?” she clarified, her tone of voice only a touch warmer than before he had left her. He flinched again and nodded once, walking closer and frowned when he saw that her eyes had turned to gold. She touched a hand to his shoulder and blinked in surprise when her eyes turned back to that brilliant blue-green colour. “I’ve just keyed you into the glamour. Everyone else will see gold eyes,” she explained. “So first we need to get our story straight, how we met, became betrothed etcetera. I just want to make one thing clear right now. Under no circumstances, does anyone find out I am an energy-bender, do you understand?” He nodded again. “Good. Now, let’s eat and talk. I’m starving.”

He was going to have to find a way to make this up to her, and fast. He didn’t know what to do with this cold and emotionless version of Aika. He would take an angry, raging, vicious, screaming girl over this any day. Because she would eventually calm down, she would eventually run out of steam. This was not Aika. Aika was not cold, calculating and emotionless. This girl reminded him of his sister and he hated it. 

He sighed softly and sat down in front of her, determined to make this right. He would start by figuring out how they would navigate the shitstorm he had created with his spur of the moment blurted blunder. Seeing her glare, he knew this was not going to be easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To anyone who thinks Aika should be a bit angrier, I wanted to, honestly, but Zuko is such a cute turtleduck and I couldn’t stay mad at him. He may have developed and gotten better, but he still has a tough time making the right decisions and he went with what he was always told to believe in a moment of weakness. Years of Fire Nation propaganda, abuse, neglect and shit can do that to you. He’ll realise his mistake much quicker than in the show, don’t worry. Oh, and since Aang isn’t dead, she can’t actually be mad at Zuko for killing him… Oh, she will get back at him, but in more subtle Slytherin ways than outright hurting him.


	22. Stupid Fire Lords

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.

It was almost noon by the time the Fire Lord ‘requested’ Zuko’s and Aika’s presence two days later. Both were dressed in full formal Fire Nation regalia to their audience with the Fire Lord. Zuko had explained Fire Nation etiquette when in the presence of the Fire Lord and the Royal Family.

On the first night, after the Prince had left her room for the night, she had meditated and found Professor Slytherin in her library. She had quickly asked him about elemental magic, which he actually knew quite a bit of, and then stayed up late to practice ‘firebending’. Fire was apparently the easiest element for witches and wizards to control wandlessly, which made sense when Slytherin explained that fire was the most alive element, the one most similar to magic. With her new magical core and control, she would be able to control pretty much all fire, except fiendfyre, without her wand. But the professor had assured her - or terrified her, she hadn’t decided yet - by saying that with practice she probably could learn to control that too. 

Her practice paid off. In order to control fire, all she had to do was pool her energy into her hands, which Slytherin had taught her how to do, then she would whisper an _incendio_ (which wouldn’t be required when she got the hang of both wandless and wordless spells) under her breath to light the energy on fire, and start manipulating the energy. Manipulating fire around her was much the same. Using the energy in her hands, she could take control of other energy in a fire and use it to manipulate the flame. In theory, she could even conjure a breath of fire by pooling her energy into her throat and directing it outwards with her breath. It was pretty cool if she said so herself.

She had continued to practice with Zuko the next day. He had even taken her to one of the training arenas to spar. She had most definitely taken out her anger on him then, and she hadn’t solely stuck to ‘firebending’ either. The Fire Prince didn’t think he would be able to sit down comfortably for the next week and his nose really hurt.

So that brought her to today. Armed with her new knowledge, power and ‘firebending’ techniques, she was confident she wouldn’t be killed on sight. Well, she hoped.

The doors to the Fire Palace Throne Room opened and Zuko walked in first, Aika following behind. Following the instructions he had given her, she knelt before the Fire Lord on one knee, hand over her heart, head down. She wasn’t allowed to speak until the Fire Lord asked her to and wasn’t allowed to rise from her position or look at him directly until he told her. Barbaric rules, but she would rather not give herself away or get killed; she believed that Slytherin’s innate self-preservation instincts had bled into her personality and she was on high alert. Despite feeling like a Death Eater kneeling in front of Voldemort, she didn’t move.

After what seemed like forever, Fire Lord Ozai commanded, “Rise and look at me.” She did so. He was exactly like she had seen _before_ , but now that he was real and she was in front of him, his very aura screamed evil. Actually, she would compare this man’s aura to Amycus Carrow, torturously sadistic, without any sort of morals and driven by the darkness inside him. He wasn’t quite at the level of Voldemort evil; this man had never split his soul. Still, she fought a shiver when he muttered, “Yes, Zuko. I can see why you chose this one.” Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Azula standing off to the side, Mai and Ty Lee with her. “What is your name and where do you come from?”

“My name is Aika and I was born in Yu Dao, my Lord.”

“Ah, a Fire Nation colony,” he muttered, rising from his throne. “Tell me, are you a bender?”

“Yes, my Lord. A firebender.”

Next to her, Azula spat, “Prove it!” Aika simply pooled her energy in her hands and set it alight, holding the small orange and red flame in front of her.

Fire Lord Ozai smirked. “Well then, a Fire Nation citizen, one capable of firebending. I think that she is capable of being my son Zuko’s betrothed, if we can train her well enough. She might not be highborn, but at least she is Fire Nation. And if she fails, then I would have no problem terminating any agreement between them. Anyone object?”

“I do, Father!” Azula spat. “Mai is a much better candidate, she was born in the Capital and her father is one of your most loyal governors. Mai is high-born! This… colonial… is nothing a member of the Royal Family should be.”

Ozai touched his chin in thought. “Well, this is true. However, Azula, your friend cannot firebend. Two firebenders have a much higher chance of producing powerful firebenders.”

Azula smirked. “Then we can get them to challenge each other. If this colonial has any sense, then she will back away and forfeit.” Aika fought the urge to snarl at the crazy princess, but she didn’t say anything. She glanced at Zuko and gave an almost imperceptible nod that she would agree to the terms.

Zuko stated, “Aika will accept. However, Mai is not a firebender, so she cannot fight in a traditional Agni Kai.”

“This is also true,” Ozai confirmed.

“I will fight on Mai’s behalf,” declared Azula. “I will not lose.”

Ozai raised a creepy eyebrow, “Daughter, if you challenge on someone’s behalf, you not only fight for their honor, but your own. Do you still want to participate?”

“I will not lose,” the crazy princess repeated, grinning maniacally at Aika. The energy-bender remained emotionless, but inside she was jumping in glee. This would be the perfect way to get the bitch back for hurting Aang.

“So be it. You will fight tonight at dusk.” Ozai dismissed them all.

“Are you sure about this?”

Aika rolled her eyes. This was the fifth time he was asking. “Yes, Zuko. I’m sure. I’m not helpless.”

“But you aren’t a firebender,” he whispered, just in case someone was spying on them.

That got an eyebrow raise, “No, I’m not. But fire is energy, Zuko.”

“Azula can bend lightning.”

“So can I.” Not wandlessly, not yet anyway, but she could definitely redirect lightning wandlessly. With her doubled core, pure energy like that was getting really really simple for her to manipulate. Creating it was harder, but she was working on it.

“We should practice.”

“Zuko, what have I been doing for the last hour?” After meeting with the Fire Lord, Zuko had taken her straight to a practice arena where she could do exactly that. After Zuko had shown her his version of firebending, she had adapted it to her energy. Combined with the training that Slytherin had helped her with, she was more or less kicking Zuko’s ass.

“No, we should practice with lightning. It’s Azula’s favourite move.”

“Can you create lightning?”

“Yes.” He got into the correct stance for the technique. “Ready?” She nodded and assumed a defensive pose, hands steady in front of her. With a circular movement of his hands, Zuko aimed and produced a bolt of lightning which headed straight for her. Gathering her own energy in her hands, she took control of the energy of the bolt. It gave her a massive jolt as her energy mixed with the lightning, but she managed to keep a hold on it. The energy felt wild, chaotic and destructive in her hands. Instead of letting it hit her, she used the bolt's momentum to guide it around her body, circling behind her back and then she aimed the bolt back at him. He reabsorbed it and then shot it back out towards the sky.

All this happened within seconds. Zuko watched the electricity disappear into the air before turning to Aika with wide eyes. She smiled proudly. “I told you I could do it!”

“What was that?” he asked breathlessly. She laughed, enjoying her newfound power. 

After a few more practice manoeuvres, with Aika once again kicking his ass, Zuko called a time out. Honestly, it was kind of embarrassing how quickly she had picked this up and could beat him. She was even better than Azula’s prodigious mastering of the art. However, he had come to suspect that her harshness in training was how she was getting back at him for hurting her family; that mischievous and devious glint in her eyes when she attacked him relentlessly confirmed it.

They sat down on a nearby bench, taking a drink of water. After a few moments of awkward silence, Aika asked bluntly, “Zuko, tell me now. Do you want me to win or lose?”

He was quiet for a few minutes. “Win. I want you to win,” he whispered.

She nodded, “Okay. Then you need to sort out your loyalty issues. You’re like a pendulum, constantly swinging back and forth between your loyalty to the people who actually care about you, and your father and sister.” He went to speak but she held up her hand. “Let me finish. I understand why you would want to come back here. It’s your home, it’s your throne, it’s your whatever… But you still have the same moral dilemma that you did when you spoke out of turn in the War Council meeting when you were fifteen. And I’m going to be very blunt here, I will not let you or your father or your sister hurt my family.” He stiffened beside her. “So when it comes down to it, when all is said and done, you better be sure, because I will not forgive you a second time.”

Zuko closed his eyes against the raging emotions. He had known this, of course, known it since the second he had chosen to fight against the Avatar with his sister in the Crystal Caverns. Spirits, he had known it since the day in the abandoned village when she had knocked out his sister with no more than a flick of her wrist. His uncle had told him as much. She had forgiven him this time for his grievous mistake, but she would never forget it.

Then he caught her words… Her family… He knew the Avatar was part of her family. She hadn’t said ‘what was left of her family’ or ‘the rest of her family’. She spoke about them as if they were whole, complete... Like the Avatar wasn’t dead. The Fire Prince had had a hunch because of his conversation with the Water Tribe girl in the caverns about that spirit water, but Aika had just pretty much confirmed his suspicions. And from the look on her face, she knew it. This was the ultimate test, he realised. If he told his father, yes he might be banished again, but it would restart the hunt for her family. If he let it be, her family could recover and live in peace, for however long they could anyway. But did he really want to, anyway? He had regretted his choice to attack the Avatar almost as soon as he had made it, but at the same time, he was grateful that he had, because Aika would have been killed by Azula in the Earth Kingdom. 

Aika, the beautiful girl sitting beside him, who cared for him, who made him feel something other than pain, anguish or rage. The girl who made him laugh and smile. The girl he had fallen in love with ever since she had healed his scar.

In the end, his choice was clear. It was always clear, he just hadn’t been able to see it.

In the most resolute tone Aika had ever heard from him, he vowed, “I’ll always choose you.”

She tilted her head and regarded him for a few moments, but his gaze and posture remained steady and confident. “Then I have a duel to win.”

_There are a lot of people who want to watch this,_ she thought. Assembled in the hall, around the outskirts of the stage, were all the important people of the Fire Nation. As a formal Agni Kai, everyone who was anyone wanted the opportunity to witness this firsthand so they could then gossip about it later. This was something she was actually used to. A duelling tournament was the same, except back then she had duelled for money and a trophy, whereas now, it was for her honour and Zuko. Which was hilarious in and of itself. Two girls battling over the right for the prince. She had laughed at him for a solid five minutes just before they had made their way here... He had not found it amusing. 

As Zuko led her to the stage, he shuddered, obviously remembering the last time he had been here. Although he no longer possessed the horrible scar over his eye, he still had the memories. She placed a hand on his arm in comfort, and he smiled very slightly at her. She let him go and made her way up the stairs to the stage, waiting just at the top of the stairs.

Ozai stood in the middle of the stage in his Fire Lord regalia to officiate the Agni Kai. Azula stood on the opposite side of the stage, facing her, Mai standing directly behind her. “An Agni Kai has been issued by my daughter, Princess Azula, on behalf of Mai, daughter of Ukano. The one challenged is Aika, Fire Nation colonial and betrothed of my son, Crown Prince Zuko. As Mai is not a firebender, she is unable to participate. This duel of honour has an additional stipulation. The winner is granted the right to become the Crown Prince’s betrothed.” She could hear as the whispers of the crowd grew louder. 

The Fire Lord retreated to his throne nearby, in perfect view of the duelling platform. At his nod, the two girls shed their shoulder garments, leaving them in red pants and vests, with exposed arms and stomachs, and bare feet. Azula’s smirk was devious as they assumed their firebending stances, but Aika didn’t rise to the bait. She was not about to lose this duel. Maybe, she could give something for Azula to fear for once in her life. This girl should know that there was someone bigger and badder than her, just to knock that stupid arrogant smirk off her face. She focused on her core, pooling her energy into her hands.

The gong sounded.

Azula attacked first, sending a blast of blue fire towards her, which she dodged easily. She sent her own wave of crimson flames toward the princess but changed their course at the last second to intercept her dodge by motioning her hand in that direction. Azula just managed to duck under the flames to avoid being burnt. Aika’s first attack had been so close that all the spectators didn’t dare speak. Neither the Fire Lord, nor the Crown Prince had ever seen fire come so close to hitting Azula before. The princess, instead of attacking immediately again, reassessed her opponent. 

Aika was cool, calm and collected. Her eyes never once strayed from the princess as she placed one leg out in front of herself for greater balance and stability, and raised both hands, one by her chest and the other out in front of her; it was a classic firebending pose that Aika had seen Zuko in before. Azula copied. 

Again, the impatient princess attacked first, tired of waiting for action, sending stream after stream of blue flame toward her opponent. Each one was redirected, Aika taking control of the energy in the flame to send it away. Then Aika attacked. Red and blue flashed against each other, but where the blue flames were now fueled by rage, the red flames were carefully planned and sent strategically, without emotion. Azula, frustrated that she hadn’t already won, attacked with a large and consistent stream of fire, hoping to distract her opponent long enough that she could use her lightning.

Wanting to put on a massive spectacle for her audience, to show that she was not to be fucked with, the energy bender took control of that fire by mixing her red flame with the blue and manipulated it into shape. The strange red and blue fire formed a giant ring around Aika, and Azula, thinking she had won, laughed. But then, a giant head made of flame emerged from the stream and the rest of the fire twisted into a body and a large tail curled in front of Aika protectively. A giant dragon made of fire was now defending the energy bender.

The whole room gasped as one, even Ozai stared wide-eyed. Azula looked up with the teeniest-tiniest hint of fear in her cold gold eyes. Without showing the visible signs of the massive strain that the fire dragon was putting on her core, Aika waved her hand with an unnecessary flourish and the dragon lunged for the princess. Aika kept up the pretence of controlling the dragon with her hands, but really, the dragon was attached to her energy core, bending to her will. Azula dodged and blocked the dragon’s pounces and fire breath blasts until she managed to dissipate it with a shot of lightning. Within a second of the dragon disappearing, Azula turned her deadly bolts of lightning to Aika. 

Performing the same trick as she had in the arena with Zuko, Aika took control of the lightning, circled it around her body and sent it right back at her opponent. It hit Azula in the thigh, sending her flying backwards and she landed just before she fell off the side of the platform. Aika walked forward and stood over Azula; her energy pooling into her hand once again, setting it alight in a fist of flame. 

She was about to send it toward the downed girl, as apparently mercy was a sign of weakness, when someone behind her yelled, “Stop!” She kept the flame alight but did not strike. The Fire Lord had walked onto the platform and stood beside Aika, facing her. “Do not kill my daughter. The winner of this Agni Kai is Aika,” he announced. 

She let the energy from her hand disappear and the flames dispersed, the energy bender turning and bowing in the traditional form to the Fire Lord. She stepped back a few steps and stood at attention, just in case someone wanted to retaliate for her actions towards the princess. It would be a dishonourable move, but it could happen. 

Ozai scowled down at his daughter, who looked shocked, stunned and so very livid that she had lost, before he gazed at the winner appreciatively and continued, “Aika has won the challenge, and so retains her betrothal to Crown Prince Zuko.” The sudden malevolent glint in his eye made Aika very wary. What was he planning to- “The wedding will take place two weeks hence. You are all dismissed from this chamber.”

Spluttering in shock, Aika barely heard Ozai call for his son before attendants and maids scrambled up onto the platform to guide her back down to the ground and to her room as the audience cleared out of the Agni Kai chamber. Once the maids were satisfied that she was not injured, they got to preparing a relaxing bath for her and then brought her food and tea, one particular woman braiding her hair elegantly and styling it up in an intricate bun. As the woman worked on her hair, she sipped her tea and tried not to show her panic and shock in front of someone else.

Obviously, having feeling for someone came back to bite you in the ass.

“Where did you find her, Zuko?” his father asked with a hint of pride in his voice. He could hear the rhetorical question, so didn’t bother providing an answer. “She is one of the most skilled firebenders I have ever seen. Even though she is not highborn, she will honour this family and the Fire Nation. You chose well.”

That was extremely high praise from his father. However, something else was more prominent in his mind. “You said the wedding is in two weeks?” he asked dubiously.

Ozai’s teeth glinted maliciously in the firelight of the throne room as he smiled. “Yes, Zuko. I want that power in the family as soon as possible. Two weeks is enough time for the servants to put together a ceremony worthy of the Crown Prince and also happens to be the day of the Summer Solstice.” He fixed Zuko with a stare. “You will honour the terms of the Agni Kai.”

“Yes, Father,” Zuko said with a bow. Sensing the dismissal, Zuko turned and left, heading towards the room he had set up for Aika. 

On the way there, the Head Servant, Lee Jin, intercepted him. Without breaking stride and catching up with the prince, he said, “Begging your pardon, Your Highness, but we would like to discuss with you, your Lady’s move to the Crown Prince wing. Like all the Lady’s before, she shall live in separate quarters in your wing before she moves to your suite on the day of your wedding.”

Zuko stopped walking. The servant, not expecting the quick halt, kept walking a few paces before hurrying back to face the Prince, awaiting orders. “How soon does this move happen?” Zuko questioned.

“The rooms are being prepared as we speak, Your Highness.” 

“I shall let her know. I plan to have her join me for dinner, so ensure the rooms are prepared by then. We will dine in the Sunset Room overlooking the gardens, in private. Set this up as well.”

The man bowed, “Consider it done, Your Highness.” He didn’t rise from his bow until Zuko had continued on his journey down the hall.

The Prince knocked once before letting himself into her room, immediately taking in the sight of her sitting on the edge of the bed and drinking tea, wearing a red silk robe with delicate gold floral embroidery and gold lining. Her deep red hair was styled in an intricate pattern atop her head and her cute dainty little feet were bare. She looked adorable, but it was intimate, definitely not appropriate attire for a public outing. She didn’t move as he made his way over to her, dragging the chair from the desk in his path so he could sit and face her. The tea cart was in between them, just as an extra precaution in case she decided that this was all his fault.

She stood and pointed angrily at him, “This is all your fault.”

He was psychic. He quickly agreed, “Yes it is.” He leaned back in his chair to avoid being poked in the eye by her accusing finger. 

She didn’t seem to hear him and so continued to rant, walking to the empty space between the bed and the door and pacing, “You were the one who told Azula we were betrothed, and I expected that when I won the duel we would be engaged, but to only have two we-” She paused and her head snapped in his direction, “Wait, what?”

He sighed softly and stood. He calmly walked over to her and grabbed both her hands in each of his, pulling her close. “Yes, this is my fault.” He lifted her hands high and placed a light kiss over the knuckles of one hand. “Yes, you have every right to be mad at me.” He kissed her other hand. “I am so sorry you are stuck with me now.”

She rolled her eyes but made no move to take her hands from his grasp. “You’re an idiot.”

He kissed her knuckles again, “Yes I am.”

“You are going to find a way to make it up to me.” That was not a question.

He gazed at her imploringly, “Yes, I will.” What was one more thing to make up for?

She eyed him and then nodded once, prompting him to pull her into a deep kiss. They both pulled back before they could get too carried away. He sat back down and poured her more tea, grateful to be able to focus on something else, trying to shake off the lust he felt for her since she had bended the giant fire dragon. Handing over her cup, he mentioned, “My father said we are to get married on the Summer Solstice, two weeks from today.”

She hummed, taking a sip before responding, “I’m not going to lie and say I’m thrilled it would be happening so soon. But I suppose it was inevitable once you told your sister we were engaged.” He nodded, just happy that she wasn’t throwing fireballs at him. He called it a win.

“You were amazing in that duel.”

She glared at him. “Flattery won’t get you anywhere, Zuko. And don’t think that kiss changed anything, I’m still mad at you.” 

He sighed, “I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Ozai might seem a little OOC but I feel that a man like Ozai would appreciate, respect and covet power more than he would social status. Someone so obsessed with power and ruling the world would see not being able to firebend at all as a terrible weakness (look how he treated Azula vs Zuko), no matter Mai’s superior knife-throwing skills and highborn status. So when he sees Aika’s skill he would approve and want to keep that kind of power close to him to use, even though she’s a nobody.


	23. Interlude II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.

Zuko was frustrated. He was frustrated and tired and irritated. He tossed and turned, unable to get comfortable in the massive bed; it felt too soft after years of sleeping on military cots, poorly made beds and in caves. Finally giving up, he pulled on a robe and his shoes and went for a walk. 

In two days, he was getting married. Married! If someone had told him that a year ago he would have laughed in their faces before sending waves of fire blasts at them. Although he had to admit, if he did have to get married, he was glad it was her. Happy actually. She made him happy. He hadn’t felt happy since before his mother had abandoned him. Nothing had made him smile or laugh since then, not even Mai. Not that she was a happy person herself, in fact, he agreed with Aika’s assessment that the girl had the emotional range of a teaspoon. She hadn’t been his girlfriend because he loved her or anything. Mai had just been… there. She had always been hanging around the palace, as Azula’s friend and a highborn girl. She was the only girl who had been able to put up with his stupid angry outbursts and not been fazed, but she had none of that fire herself. She was nice when she wanted to be and she could give some good advice, but she wasn’t… Well, she wasn’t Aika.

Aika was fire, passion, warmth and light. She was clever and powerful and caring and compassionate. She could heal him and hand him his ass in a fight. She was also annoying and sarcastic and could be a bit of a mother hen, but she was never malicious. She could make him forget all his worries and trouble with a smile in his direction. She could make him smile, laugh and best of all, he could feel more than just pain, anger and sorrow. He could be more.

He found himself standing outside Aika’s door. Even his subconscious sought her out. Thinking about it now, it wasn’t only his lack of sleep making him frustrated. He hadn’t been able to get a moment alone with Aika since the night she had been moved into his wing of the palace. Since then, their time had been monopolized by Crown Prince duties, ‘Royal Family’ training and wedding planning. He was about to knock on the door when it swung open. 

Aika was surprised to see Zuko standing outside the door. She hadn’t been able to sleep and so wanted to go for a walk to the gardens. He had his fist raised and she realised he had been coming to see her. “Zuko! What are you doing here?”

With the raised hand, he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, “Umm… I was going for a walk and was going to see if you wanted to come with me.”

She raised an eyebrow. “At midnight?”

He shrugged. “Yeah… I mean… If you were asleep… then…” He trailed off awkwardly, unsure what to say. He felt flustered and annoyed by his own inability to form a comprehensive sentence.

She caught onto his little problem and just grinned. “Sure. I was heading to the gardens myself.” He nodded, his shoulders sagging slightly in relief, and held his hand out for her. She took it gently and like a gentleman, he pulled her close to his side and tucked her hand inside his elbow. They walked in silence to the gardens, the silver light of the moon guiding their path, the fire torches long since burned out for the night. It was so silent in the palace, a far cry from the hustle and bustle of the day. They reached the back edge of the garden, where there was a small pond filled with turtleducks. It was a serene sight and she breathed it in as she sat down by the pond. 

She hadn’t seen anyone, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. This was the Fire Nation. So she cast a muffling charm around them, just in case. 

They just sat in companionable silence for a while, Aika trailing her hands over the water, making it ripple gently. “Aika, I’m sorry,” Zuko finally said.

The girl looked at him, his head down and expression forlorn. She took her hand in his. “Zuko, it’s okay. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to be.”

He frowned, “What do you mean? Where would you go?”

“I could have gone anywhere, gone back to my family. I am an energy-bender. If I wanted to leave, do you think anyone could stop me?”

He sighed, “No, I suppose not.” He frowned. “Then why are you here?”

It was her turn to sigh. “I would have thought that was obvious, Zuko.” His expression just turned confused. She rolled her eyes, “I’m here because I love you, idiot, and I’m not going to let you stay in the Fire Nation alone.”

Zuko’s eyes widened almost comically and a rare genuine smile graced his lips. She really really liked seeing that smile. “You… you love me?” He never believed that she would love him back, not after everything he had done. He knew she held some affection for him, considering what they had done in the Earth Kingdom and that she hadn’t killed him for everything he had done to her family, but love? No. Because he was not lovable. He was not worthy of it. 

She turned back to the pond and sighed again, this time more dramatically, “Merlin, help me, but yes I do.”

“Aika…” he grabbed her hand and raised it to kiss her knuckles softly. “I love you too.” She beamed and he leaned forward to capture her lips in a soft kiss. Where their previous kisses had been tornadoes of fire, this was like a candle, burning slow and steady.

When they pulled apart to breathe, they rested their foreheads together, not wanting to part just yet. When she caught her breath again, she whispered, “Anything. You can have anything.”

He immediately understood what she was referring to. That night in the Earth Kingdom, when he asked for whatever she could give. It seemed so long ago now. “Anything?”

She nodded slightly, not breaking their connection. “Anything.”

He was so overwhelmed by emotion that he pulled back slightly and to cover up this storm welling inside him, he teased her. “You do realise that that was very mushy and cliche right?”

She smiled lightly and hit him on the arm playfully. “Yes, and if you tell anyone about it, I’ll kill you.”

He chuckled, “Well then, in the spirit of mushy and cliche, I have something for you.” She looked at him expectantly and he chuckled again before reaching into his pocket and grabbing a small piece of jewellery he had been carrying around for the last week, hoping to catch a moment alone with her. Holding up the ring between them, her mouth dropped open slightly in surprise and awe. “It’s tradition for the Fire Prince to give his betrothed a ring that would symbolise her future status. While we don’t exchange rings during the ceremony, you will wear it afterwards.”

Aika looked down at the intricate ring. The gold of the band was carved into an elaborate shape; it appeared to be a tiny elegant dragon, which would curl around her finger. Its tail was wrapped multiple times around a blood-red diamond to hold the gem in place and the tiny dragon's head rested just to the side of the gemstone and looked as if it were sleeping. 

“It’s beautiful, Zuko.” He smiled and slipped it on the pointer finger of her left hand. She analysed it “Does it matter to you guys which finger it sits on?” He shook his head, confused as to why she would ask. She smiled and took the ring off that finger, only to slip it onto the finger next to her pinky. “Where I come from, engagement and wedding rings sit on that finger,” she explained.

That seemed like a perfect opening. “So now, would you tell me about your past?”

Clicking her tongue against her teeth, making a funny sound, she said airily, “What do you want to know?” She was still gazing intently at the diamond on her finger.

“Pretty much everything.”

Tearing her gaze from the ring to him, she asserted, “You have to promise that you will not judge me on my past.” He swore it. “I come from another world, another place filled with energy-benders like me.” His jaw dropped, but he didn’t interrupt. “There, energy-bending was called witchcraft and wizardry and I learned how to channel my magic, my energy, in weird, wacky and wonderful ways. I grew up with parents that loved me, that taught me everything about magic and it’s intricacies and complexities. I learned so much that I competed in duels every summer and winter, all around the world to prove that I was the best at magic. I won most of them, lost others. My country was thrown into war over the superiority of magical bloodlines. My parents were killed because my mother had non-magical parents and my father had married her. I survived it. But I wasn’t the same anymore. I was planning to leave, start fresh in a new country when I was struck by lightning and brought here, to this world.”

Her life in a nutshell. Talk about understatements.

“I have a feeling that you aren’t telling me everything,” he responded after it all sunk in.

She rolled her eyes, “Very perceptive, well done. If you want to know everything, it’s going to take a long time.”

He shrugged, “That’s fine. We have our whole lives.”

She released the breath she didn’t know she had been holding in relief. At least he wasn’t rejecting her. “How are you so calm about this?”

He pulled her closer so she was leaning against him and wrapped his arm around her. “I like to think that I’m not so narrow-minded anymore.”

She snorted. “Yep. Uh-huh. No, really, why?”

He rolled his eyes, “You don’t judge me on my past, so I will grant the same courtesy. Besides, your past made you who you are and I actually like who you are. And you do the same for me, so it’s pretty even.”

“Oh you mean the wanting to capture my brother, the chasing us all over the world and what happened in Ba Sing Se where you sided against my family and almost killed them? That past?” She smiled sweetly.

He rolled his eyes again. “Yes, that.” He sighed heavily, “Aika if I told you that I wanted to change, what would you say?”

“Change what, exactly? Please don’t say you want to go back to having that tiny patch ponytail hairstyle again. I can forgive a lot, but I won’t forgive that. That was nasty.” She scrunched up her nose in a disgusted expression.

Here he was, trying to have a serious conversation… Sometimes he wondered why he bothered. “No, not that… I’ve been doing some… research… around the palace. And I’ve been allowed back into war meetings and councils…”

She eyed him and smirked, “So you’ve figured out, yet again, that your father is a massive prick?”

He pitched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “Would you please let me finish?” She mimicked closing a zipper over her lips. “I want to help you.” She raised an eyebrow in question, taking his ‘no interrupting’ request seriously and not speaking. “My family, my father, what he is planning… It’s unspeakable. I am now sure I picked the wrong side in the Earth Kingdom. I know what you’ve been doing at night, Aika. I’m not an idiot.” So her espionage in the Fire Palace hadn’t gone as unnoticed as she first thought. Her panic must have shown on her face because he quickly reassured, “No one else has noticed. But I think you’re missing the point. I want to help, because what my father is planning to do...” He shuddered, “I can’t allow that to happen.”

Her responding grin was downright terrifying. For a second he honestly believed that in another life, his soon-to-be wife and his sister could have been the best of evil friends. He shuddered again.


	24. A Wedding and a Connection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.
> 
> No Beach episode. Not for Aika and Zuko anyway. Too much to do.

If she was being honest with herself, she could get very used to having servants and no Azula around. Since she had moved into Zuko’s wing - wing!- of the palace, she had been assigned a personal maid who was quite young, about thirteen, and the kid was just so cute! And she was the perfect person to tell her all the palace gossip! Of course, she called Aika ‘my lady’ despite telling her that her name was fine, so she tacked it onto the end, constantly saying, “Yes, Lady Aika! Of course, Lady Aika.” Kira looked like a traditional Fire Nation girl, with black hair in a half-up top knot, gold eyes, a cute little button nose and she was so small that all the palace advisors, nobles and even the other servants overlooked her, which is how she got all the juicy gossip. She was a sneaky and slightly devious little shit but in a really adorable way, and Aika loved it. Especially since she was quite loyal too and hated Azula and most of the nobles in the palace.

Which is how Aika knew that Azula had been shipped off to Ember Island with Mai and Ty Lee since Aika had beaten the princess in the Agni Kai. Rumour was that the Fire Lord was absolutely livid with Azula for losing against a commoner, a colonial, in a duel that wasn’t even for her own gain. They weren’t due to come back until tomorrow since Azula had to show her face at the wedding as the Fire Princess. Shamed Fire Princess anyway.

Right now, her cute devious little gossip girl Kira was fetching her some jasmine tea while another servant massaged her feet, one gave her a manicure, another put her hair in curlers, while the head servant was talking at Aika. Not with, at. She missed most of his droning, having dozed off because of the lovely massage. Seriously, she was gonna tell Zuko to keep this woman on retainer. 

“Lady Aika, are you listening?”

“Nope,” she admitted, popping the ‘p’ and with no hint of shame in her voice. “You lost me at the seating charts.”

The man glared at her, “That was half an hour ago!”

“Yep.” The woman massaging her feet got to a particularly good spot and she made a noise that she hadn’t made outside of the bedroom. “Okay, Zuko better be ready to rack up a massive massage bill.”

Lee Jin went to say something but there was a knock on her door and she called for the person to come in. Kira stuck her head in, “Tea, Lady Aika, and the seamstress is here for the final fitting.”

“Okay, come in.” She looked down at the masseuse. “Don’t leave,” she glared playfully. The woman smiled and nodded. Aika stood, a tiny bit less gracefully than usual due to her relaxed, unsteady legs, took the teacup from Kira and then looked at the monstrosity that was a Fire Nation wedding dress. It was the ugliest thing she had ever seen. So… she had no words to describe it. She must have looked horrified because Kira giggled and then slapped her hand over her mouth. Seeing her reaction, Lee Jin lectured, “Lady Aika, this is a traditional Fire Nation bridal gown.”

“It looks like a white kimono that a Fire Nation baby threw up on.” She heard a gasp behind her and she turned to see one of the servants staring at her with wide eyes and hands covering her mouth. She rolled her eyes, “Oh please, like you would want to wear this! Even I know it’s a fashion travesty, and I know _nothing_ about fashion!”

Lee Jin scolded, “Lady Aika! Don’t you dare insult Fire Nation tradition! You will be a Fire Nation Princess! I shall tell the prince at once of this!”  
She rolled her eyes, “I’m not insulting traditions, Lee Jin, I’m insulting that gown. Can’t we get something a bit more… simple… elegant… without the… what are these, flame symbols?... on the elbows? Like, honestly, my _red_ hair is flamey enough.”

Kira, bless her sweet soul, chirped, “Lady Aika, these shall be the decorations in your hair!”

She held up two giant red flower clips, a stick with a tassel on the end of it, and a small bun… thing - it looked like a cupcake - with one of the golden fire nation emblems stuck in it. Aika guessed it was their version of the princess wearing a tiara. She immediately refused. “Nope. Uh-uh, no way.” She picked up the stick. “What are you going to do with this? Murder me by sticking it through my ear?” She could have sworn that a vein in Lee Jin’s forehead was about to burst. The inevitable eruption was interrupted by another knock at the door. “Who is it?” she sang.

“Zuko,” came the voice from beyond the door. 

“No! It’s bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding!” the head servant admonished her. 

She grinned slyly at him before calling back, “Come in!”

Zuko halted in his tracks when he saw the entourage in Aika’s room. Four female servants stood at attention at the side, including Aika’s young personal maid, and Lee Jin was glaring at Aika with a red face and a throbbing vein in his forehead. A white, red and gold hideous gown lay on a chaise in front of them, while the owner of the room grinned gleefully at him, holding what looked like a small wooden chopstick with a tassel on the end. “Ummm… I’m interrupting something. I’ll come back.” He wasn’t fast enough.

“Nope!” His soon-to-be wife - wasn’t that a shock still - hurried to his side and dragged him further into the room, preventing his immediate escape. 

Shit.

The compromise was struck, which nearly reduced the seamstress and Lee Jin to tears. Aika kept most of the design of the kimono gown monstrosity, except for the fire symbols on the elbows, and she got to do her own hair, as long as it was up, and she used the fire tiara thing. She still hated it, but while she could argue with the servants all she wanted, she couldn’t go against the Fire Lord. Not if she didn’t want to kill him or die.

Eh, whatever. She considered it a win when Zuko sided with her on most things, especially the wooden tasselled chopstick. Which was smart considering from tomorrow tonight, she would be sleeping right next to him.

After all, happy wife, happy life. Or so she said. He certainly wasn’t about to argue.

Her entrance was pretty grand, and she loved scandalising these uppity Fire Nation people. It wasn’t her clothing that shocked them, but her hair. Instead of going with the traditional up-do with the clips and the chopstick, she had opted for a very high ponytail, tied with the red tie and gold tiara emblem. She had magically lengthened her hair down to her waist and curled it elegantly, so it cascaded down her back like a waterfall, before piling it high on her head and leaving some of the front parts out to artfully shape around her face. The natural lightening of the ends of her hair from being outdoors most of the time now made the curls look like flames swirling up to the top of her head. She loved it.

Even so, there were actually very few people in the room, since Fire Nation wedding ceremonies tended to be rather private. And there was no aisle to walk down. Instead, she was told to walk to the middle of the room from the side door by the front of the hall, and Zuko met her at the base of the altar from the other side in his full Crown Prince formal attire, not to be confused with his formal military uniform. She had to say, he was gorgeous, but she much preferred the uniform. She liked a man in uniform.

His jaw dropped when he saw her, which made her smile. It was a good ego boost.

He led her up the steps to the altar where one the Fire Sages was waiting to officiate. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Azula glaring at her, six-feet-under style and Ozai eyeing her critically. She resisted the urge to smirk.

Now, Aika was not a complete feminist and didn’t go on rants unless the situation, or the person called for it, thank you Pakku, but she did take issue with her ‘pledge’ - back home, they made vows, here they made pledges - “Will you pledge to be forever loyal, faithful and supportive of your husband first and foremost over all others, including yourself?”

Stiffly, she said, “I will.”

And then, “Will you pledge to defer to the will of your husband, as he shall know best in order to protect and provide for you and your future family?”

Way to make her sound like a mindless bimbo. She made an almost inaudible sound of disapproval in the back of her throat before mumbling, “I will.”

Zuko gave her a side-eye glance and could see the tiny narrowing of her eyes at the Fire Sage and prayed to Agni that she wouldn’t make a scene. He could see a sarcastic quip on the tip of her tongue. Thankfully, Agni decided to grant him his wish, because the ceremony concluded without a hitch. Now they just had to make it through the reception…

He smiled at her when the sage concluded the ceremony, and gently turned her to face the small number of people gathered, including his father and sister. His sister had a glare that could melt ice and his father had a small evil smirk.

Agni, help them!

“Zuko, what is it?”

He glanced behind him at Aika, who was blinking rapidly and rubbing at her eyes. Quickly telling her to stay there, he grabbed his nearby robe and ran outside to the hall to investigate the sounds that had woken him from his sleep, tying it as he ran. He opened the door and saw a cloaked figure walking down the hall before disappearing. Zuko began to go after the individual but noticed a scroll lying on the floor. Surprised, he picked up the scroll and read it aloud to himself, “You need to know the story of your great-grandfather's demise. It will reveal your own destiny.” He closed the scroll and stared down the empty hallway before going back into his room. 

He found Aika sitting up and looking at him curiously, “What was it, love?” She had yet to find the perfect endearment for him… It was a work in progress. He simply handed her the scroll he had found. She opened it and raised an eyebrow. She closed her eyes for a brief second and he gazed in awe when the scroll glowed the same brilliant blue as her eyes for a few seconds before it faded again. He would never stop being fascinated by her energy-bending. She revealed, “Iroh sent this. And there is a hidden message on it: ‘The Fire Sages keep the secret history in the Dragonbone Catacombs.’ Huh, Dragonbone Catacombs… That would be cool to see.”

Zuko’s eyes widened, “What?” He sat down next to her and snatched the parchment back gently. “Are you sure?”

“Rule number one, Zuko: Your wife is always right,” she imparted wisely. 

He rolled his eyes fondly. “Okay, Always Right,” he teased, “You up for an adventure to the Dragonbone Catacombs?”

“Yes. But tomorrow night. Tonight is my wedding night.” She untied his robe and pushed it off his shoulders. “I’m up for round four.”

“You're insatiable,” he chuckled.

“I don’t hear you complaining.”

He laughed and pulled her into a deep kiss. “Touché.”

She took the scroll from his hands and chucked it on the bedside table, the secret message forgotten until morning.

As tradition dictated, a newly married couple of the Royal Family weren’t to be disturbed for the next two days with stately duties. Originally, this was meant for arranged marriages so they could get used to living in the same space and how to be around each other and also as an incentive to produce an heir right away. Or so Zuko had told her. To her, that meant it was a couple of days for her to practice her energy-bending (she was really good at all wandless spells now except for the delicate things like healing and was working on wordless spells), have sex with her new husband (honestly, the man was not complaining one bit), to explain bits of her past and talk to each other, and for them to slink around the palace quietly to uncover secrets. She had also made sure that Kira knew to keep her ears open at all times for all kinds of rumours.

Zuko was a bit jittery for the night to come so they could get into the catacombs and figure out the note that Iroh had left. So she did everything she could to distract him. And he fell for it every time. Finally, night fell and when they were sure that the palace staff were mostly asleep, they got dressed and Aika cast disillusionment charms over the both of them, holding hands so they didn’t lose each other.

The prince led her into a dark temple. They watched as a Fire Sage walked through the main courtyard, and stopped over a large medallion fashioned in the shape of a flower in the middle of the courtyard. The man crouched low and delivered a blast of fire into the centre of the medallion. It began to open a hidden passage, under the temple and the Sage walked down without trouble. They waited behind a pillar and when they were sure no one was around, Zuko led her to the secret passage and bended a blast of fire into the medallion. The passage opened, and a spiral staircase was revealed along with a very large secret chamber. Zuko and Aika travelled through the chamber and down a hall lined with bones of dragons, fascinating the girl. She had never seen dragon bones like these ones. They eventually arrived at an ornate door with a metal sculpture of Fire Lord Sozin on it. _Creepy._

The chest of the sculpture Sozin had a Fire Nation emblem. Zuko placed his left hand over the emblem, and bended another fire blast. The fire filled the door, and came out from the statue's eyes, nose and mouth, opening the door. _Even creepier._

Zuko entered the room, pulling his wife along and the door closed behind them. Taking off the disillusionment charms and conjuring a small _lumos_ , a dim light filled the dark chamber, and they saw that the room was filled with artefacts and various vessels. Aika immediately made her way over to a gold chest that she found particularly interesting. And by interesting, she meant sparkly. Zuko however, walked over to a large statue of a dragon that sat in the middle of the room. Under the dragon's head, Zuko found Fire Lord Sozin's history. Aloud, he read, “The final testimony of Fire Lord Sozin.”

Aika came over, opening up her palm, gesturing for him to hand her the scroll. He did so but was curious as to why she wanted it. She waved her hand over the parchment and in her other hand, another scroll popped into existence. “There, I’ve duplicated it. We can take it back to our room to read so we don’t get caught in here.”

He grinned. He was really starting to love her energy-bending.

“So, Sozin and Roku were best friends until Sozin decided to conquer the world. Roku tried to stop him, so Sozin left Roku to die from a volcano explosion. That’s cold, man. Not to mention he then wiped out the Air Nomads to make sure the next Avatar wouldn’t be born. That’s messed up considering he would have just reincarnated once again to someone in the Water Tribe.”

Zuko scowled at the scroll. “That can't be it! Where's the rest of it?” He searched the parchment to find more information, only there was none. His scowl deepened and he got up out of bed, donning a travelling cloak. 

“Where are you going?” Aika asked incredulously.

“To find out why Uncle Iroh believed this information to be important.”

“Not without me you aren’t.”

They journeyed to the Fire Nation prison where Iroh was kept. She had been meaning to get herself here sometime, so now was the perfect moment to enact her plan. They made it in without trouble, considering Zuko was the Fire Prince and Zuko pulled Aika alongside him, refusing to let her out of sight while in this place. The prince slammed the door to the cell behind him as they entered, causing Aika to frown in slight disapproval but she cast a muffling charm so no one overheard their conversation with Zuko’s uncle.

Iroh sat in the middle of his cell with his head down. She ran close and knelt down next to the bars. “Hello, Iroh.” She must say, he didn’t look the best but he was stuck in prison so it was understandable.

The old man had a smile for her nonetheless, “Hello, Aika. I hear congratulations are in order. For both of you.” 

She smiled back, “Thanks. I have something for you.” She pulled out a cup that she had stashed in her coat pocket, along with a teabag of ginseng, filling it with water and casting several warming charms to heat it. She handed the steaming cup to the man, “Here.”

He took a sip, “Ah, ginseng. I love it. Thank you, Aika.”

She was about to say something else when Zuko spoke, “I found the secret history, which by the way should be renamed history most people already know. The note said that I needed to know about my great-grandfather's death, but he was still alive in the end.”

Iroh shook his head and took another sip of the tea. “No, he wasn’t.”

The prince was confused, “What do you mean?”

“You have more than one great-grandfather, Prince Zuko. Sozin was your father's grandfather.” She watched as Zuko’s face changed into a bewildered expression. “Your mother's grandfather was Avatar Roku.”

“Why are you telling me this?” he asked shocked.

“Because understanding the struggle between your two great-grandfathers can help you better understand the battle within yourself.” Zuko sat down, with his head facing down. “Evil and good are always at war inside you, Zuko. It is your nature, your legacy. But, there is a bright side.” Zuko looked up. “What happened generations ago can be resolved now, by you. Because of your legacy, you alone can cleanse the sins of our family and the Fire Nation. Born in you, along with all the strife, is the power to restore balance to the world.”

Zuko nodded, “It’s nice to get confirmation that I am on the right path.”

This time it was Iroh’s turn to look bewildered. “What?”

Aika smiled at the old general, and said jokingly, “I hope you didn’t think my morals and standards were so low that I would marry a traitor to myself and my family, Iroh.” Iroh’s head snapped towards the prince and Zuko nodded slightly in confirmation. “Zuko, darling, we better get going before the guards get suspicious. Iroh, enjoy that tea. I hope it brings you joy by the time you have finished. Oh, and the cup will vanish after half an hour so the guards don’t get suspicious as to where it came from.” She nodded her head in respect to the old man and Zuko did the same, before they left.

The Fire Prince didn’t want to be in the Fire Nation any longer. When did it come to this? He was honestly disgusted in himself that he could have ever believed in this bullshit. He had been back home in the Fire Nation for a month and a half now and he couldn’t believe that this was where he had once wanted to be. It was...toxic. And evil.

When he got to the sanctuary of his room, he was disappointed when he didn’t find his wife there waiting for him. He had started to get used to coming back and finding her scribbling away at his desk, or lounging on the couch by the windows reading a scroll or book, or even sitting on the bed and meditating. He actually smiled when he thought about his wife, which was a shock. Zuko wasn’t used to doing anything more than scowling. Of course, he still never smiled in public. He had a reputation to maintain.

“Oh, hey Zuko, you’re back already.” He turned to see Aika coming through the doors in what she called her ‘Fire Princess’ outfit. She looked regal and stunning when she wore them, befitting of a Princess of the Fire Nation, but it wasn’t… Aika. Aika was stubborn, sarcastic, irreverent and strong, not prim, proper and stiff. He didn’t like it. She didn’t fit into this… She didn’t fit in in the Fire Nation. She didn’t belong here. He studied her carefully. She had dark circles under her eyes, the beginnings of frown lines and her eyes were filled with frustration, but she put on a smile for him anyway.

“You’re not happy,” he said suddenly.

She reeled back from that unexpected outburst. “What?”

“You’re not happy here, are you?”

Seeing no reason to lie, she shrugged, “Ozai’s court with the noble ladies is not my favourite place to be, but I’ll manage. It’s not forever.”

He closed his eyes, “No, it’s not…” Making the decision, making the call that he needed to, for both of them, he declared, “We are leaving.”

Her eyes widened in surprise and she blinked rapidly, “What are you talking about?”

He took her hand and nodded towards the door, signalling that he wanted her to make sure no one could hear them. She waved her hand and nodded when it was done. He guided her back to the bed and repeated, “We’re leaving.”

“I still don’t know what you mean.”

“Let’s go meet up with your family.” She blinked again. “We have all the information we need. And I know you’ve cast those listening charms over most of the rooms that my father uses.” She flushed crimson and he chuckled, reaching up to trace his finger on the cute red blotches on her cheek. “I also know you miss them terribly and you want to help them more.”

“Yes, you’re correct, but we can’t just up and leave.”

“Why not?”

She paused and frowned. “Shit, okay, Zuko. If this is what you want, then I got no objections. Tonight?”

He kissed her forehead, “Tonight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to the ATLA timeline, Ba Sing Se was conquered in the spring of 100AG (I’m gonna say middle of May) and the Day of the Black Sun was on the first day of the eighth month (August). So if the summer solstice is on June 21st, then Aika woke up in early June and episodes 7, 8 and 9 of Book 3 are all set in late June and July. So hopefully my timeline makes a bit more sense when I said they had been back in the Fire Nation for a month and a half. If I am completely wrong… well… Eh, we can chalk it up to writer’s privilege :)


	25. Family of Puppeteers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.

Funny enough, it was actually quite simple to get out of the palace. It’s not like they were telling anyone they were defecting from the Fire Nation, so to the guards, they were still the Fire Nation Crown Prince and Princess and got to go wherever they wanted. Aika had everything they owned of value stowed away in her charmed bag and Zuko may have taken a coin bag or five from the treasury room, as was his prerogative.

When evening approached, Zuko told the servants that they were going out into town, as he wanted to show his new wife all the wonderful things about the Capital and dismissed the offers of Guards, servants, a carriage or a palanquin carried by porters, resolute in the fact that he wanted to walk through the city. He angrily admonished the guards when they insisted, calling out that they didn’t believe their Fire Prince could protect his wife. She knew it was an act so they could get out alone, but she still found his threats and protectiveness hot… She was still a newly-wed, so sue her! Besides, it didn’t help that her husband was fucking gorgeous. Yes, she could be that shallow. No, she didn’t give a shit what anyone thought about that.

Anyway, everyone eventually backed off fearing the Fire Prince’s flared temper and she latched herself onto him like a leech. He was confused about it, but didn’t say anything, rather enjoying the lustful gaze in her eyes and puffed up slightly in pride. She smiled internally at his behaviour. Men were so easy to predict.

They made a show of walking through the markets donning clothing that blended easier into the crowd but still made of expensive materials. Once they were far enough away from the palace, they ducked into an empty side alley and Aika threw up several privacy wards and they quickly changed into more common clothing for the Fire Nation. Aika also changed her glamour to show that she had dark, almost black hair and keyed Zuko back into it. Dark hair and gold eyes were very common in the Fire Nation. Not wanting to take off her ring though, she cast several concealment charms on it so no one would think that she was an easy target for robbery. 

“Ready?” he asked, holding out his hand. She grinned and took it, tearing down the privacy wards and they walked hand in hand like any other couple on a nice evening out in town. When they could see the Great Gates of Azulon in the distance, Aika pulled him close and Apparated. Unfortunately, because she didn’t have a particular destination or coordinates of a secluded place in mind, just to get to the Gates, they ended up on top of one of the dragon statues which were meant to hold up the giant net.

“Whoa!” she cried out. She was glad that he didn’t lose his lunch over her, but since this was his third time riding side-along apparition, she figured that he would be okay. He was still hunched over and trying to catch his breath though. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” he panted. “You?”

She nodded, but what they didn’t know was that the statues had some inbuilt defence mechanisms. Zuko realised it just in time, “Aika, duck!” She obeyed, an arrow whizzing by, where her head would have been. 

Unluckily, she lost her footing with the quick movement and slid down the side of the dragon. “Ah!” She managed to grab a hold of something to keep from falling off it.

“Give me your hand! Aika!” Zuko cried softly so as not to attract the attention of the guards below them, reaching down to grab her.

“I’m not a damsel in distress Zuko, I can take care of myself,” she remarked, even as she reached up to grasp his hand and get a lift up onto the dragon again. The fact that he could lift her body weight with one hand to hoist her back onto the top of the dragon did _nothing_ to stir that tiny flame of desire she had for him. Nope, it did not.

“Yes, I know. But you don’t have to anymore,” the prince responded.

To hide her true feelings, she gave him a thump over the head. He rubbed the back of his head and scowled playfully, but he knew what she was like, so he didn’t comment further. She peered over the side of the dragon statue. “Do you think you could handle another side-along apparition jump so I can get us down from here?”

He breathed out calmly, “Yeah, okay.” She grabbed his hand again and Apparated them both down, appearing in the shadows between the legs of the dragon statue. Thankfully, none of the guards on rotation saw them appear. After quickly casting disillusionment and silencing charms on them, they crept around the guards and out into the wilderness beyond.

From there, it wasn’t hard to track her family because they still had their bracelets on and they didn’t have to go far, considering the group was already in the Fire Nation. However, since neither of them was used to walking long distances, in the next village they came across, they bought a komodo-rhino so they could ride. It still took them three days to catch up to them; the Fire Nation was much larger than she had originally thought and they did stop to camp at night, quite comfortably as they had the tent. Despite what they were doing, defecting from Zuko’s home country and living on the run again, they actually had it really easy. 

They were pleasantly surprised at how well they worked together. In the mornings, he was the first to wake and start meditating outside, joined by Aika about half an hour later. They would then practise their bending techniques and Aika explained how she used her energy to create the fire blasts she did. Zuko found that he could actually use a similar method, although his firebending was still fuelled by emotion. His firebending was definitely stronger though. In one of their duels, he had overwhelmed her flame for a few seconds, it had even flickered in different colours before she got control of it again.

Her energy-bending made chores and things a thousand times simpler, so the ‘domestic’ things were pretty much taken care of. Not that he was a slob, far from it. Raised in a military nation, he was tidy and well-groomed and picked up after himself. They travelled during the days and at night, they would sit in comfortable silence on the sofa and read. He had brought along a few of the more advanced firebending scrolls and some on the politics and economics of the Fire Nation. It bored the crap out of Aika, but then again, potions books bored him too.

They were the picture of domestic life if domesticity also included constantly trying to burn each other in the name of fighting practice.

Although, that ended when on the third night, they were in a forest and were just about to stop and make camp when they heard, “Sokka! You left your dirty socks in my bedroll again!”

Aika almost squealed in glee and dropped her glamour so she wouldn’t scare them, jumping off the still moving komodo-rhino before Zuko could even think to hold onto her, and she ran in the direction of the voice. Watching her run, he looked up ahead in the direction she was going and he could see the glow of a fire and vague outlines of people and a giant monster with horns. He halted the beast and jumped down, figuring it would be easier if Aika spoke to them alone before he showed up.

Toph was the one who alerted them to someone approaching. Two people and a heavy animal. And one of them was running towards them. “Guys, someone’s coming!”

That stopped the impending argument between the two Water Tribe siblings and they all got into battle stances. Then Toph felt the familiar vibrations in the ground and she sighed in relief. Dropping her guard, Aang, Sokka and Katara had no idea what she was doing until the person burst out through the trees.

“Hey, guys! I missed you!!”

Toph ran at the older girl, “Aika! You’re here! You’re okay!”

That triggered a massive group hug as everyone tackled Aika to the ground. She laughed and grunted playfully, “Seriously, I think you guys sprained my liver again.” They jumped off their sister and each of them hugged her again tightly. She hugged them back just as fiercely. “I missed you guys so much!”

“We missed you too!” Katara exclaimed.

“And we missed your tent!” cried Toph. “It’s been hell sleeping in caves and on the ground.” Aang and Sokka nodded frantically. She laughed again.

“What happened, Aika? How did you get away from the Fire Nation? How did you find us? What’s up with your eyes?” Sokka fired off quickly.

Aika grimaced, “It’s a long story.”

Aang, Sokka and Katara immediately went to sit down to hear it, but Toph stopped them. “I think we should first find out who’s hiding behind that tree with the komodo-rhino,” she said pointing to the tree.

The group instantly got battle ready again, but Aika held up her hand to calm them, “It’s okay guys. Calm down.”

Katara gasped, “Aika, is that a ring on your hand? Where did you get that?” The red diamond glinted in the firelight. 

The eldest girl sighed again and glared at the tree Toph had pointed to, “Get your butt out here!”

Zuko stepped out from behind the tree with his arms crossed and glared right back at her. “Really? No introduction?”

The reactions were absolutely priceless. Aang, Katara and Toph immediately attacked the Fire Prince all at the same time, and Sokka pulled out what looked like a black sword. That was new. Aika threw up a shield dome around her husband just before anything could reach him, every element bouncing harmlessly off the shield. When they halted and the air around them cleared, they saw that Zuko was completely unharmed, a shimmering dome surrounding him in a bright blue colour. The same colour that Aang had seen surrounding Aika before she passed out in the Eastern Air Temple. The same colour as her eyes. 

Aang, Sokka and Katara turned to look at Aika in surprise, but Toph asked, “Hey, how come nothing hit Sparky?”

Zuko recoiled from the nickname. “Sparky?” he asked incredulously.

The blind girl shrugged unrepentantly, “Yeah, got a problem with that, Sparky?”

The prince caught Aika snorting softly in laughter and glared at her again. Looking back at Toph, he muttered, “Uh, yeah, whatever, kid.”

Sokka and Aang’s jaw dropped at Zuko’s words and lack of attack against them. Katara was looking frantically between the two, trying to figure out what was going on between them. Zuko, instead of speaking, or attacking or doing anything that they might have expected, simply walked over to Aika and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close. 

If it was possible, Toph’s jaw would have hit the ground, Katara’s eyes would have popped out of their sockets and Sokka… well… poor Sokka couldn’t handle it. ‘Wha..Ho..Whe..Wah…” his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he dropped to the ground in a faint.

“Shit,” the energy-bender cursed. Zuko chuckled under his breath at the scene and grunted when Aika hit him in the gut with her elbow. “ _Enervate._ ”

Sokka gasped for breath as he sat up. “Huh… What happened?”

“You fainted,” Toph said bluntly.

“Right…” The Water Tribe boy looked back over to the girl he thought of like an older sister and the man currently holding onto her. “What is going on?”

“Let us explain, Sokka, before you decide to faint again.”

Aang crossed his arms over his chest, “It looks like you’re together with Zuko, Aika. So you better start explaining, and fast.” He took a seat on a tree root calmly, and the others followed his example. They had heard the gossip while walking through the Fire Nation towns that the Fire Prince had gotten married but never in a million years had believed that it would be to their sister!

Zuko first apologised for his actions in the crystal caverns, “I’m sorry for what I did back in Ba Sing Se. I’m sorry that my actions hurt you. However, I don’t think I can be sorry for my choice.” The Avatar started to rise from his spot opposite the firebender, but Zuko held up his hand in peace. “I’m not sorry because if I hadn’t chosen to go with Azula, Aika would have been killed.”

That surprised the airbender, “What?”

Aika continued, “When I was unconscious and I fell from Appa’s saddle, I was taken by Fire Nation soldiers and brought before Zuko and Azula. Since I couldn’t be woken, Azula told the soldiers that they could kill me, or toss me out onto the street, she didn’t care. Zuko stopped her.”

Katara didn’t miss the affection in her older sister’s voice when she spoke about Zuko. “So you fell in love with him because he saved you?” she asked suspiciously.

It was Aang who answered, “No, she was already in love with him before.” Aika looked at him in surprise. “Iroh told me that you had gone to their tea shop in Ba Sing Se a lot and in the Eastern Air Temple, you got really upset when we got to the truth chakra. I figured it out from there.”

She smiled weakly, “You are pretty perceptive when you want to be.” The Avatar shrugged. “So you’ve known for a while, how do you feel about that?”

“I felt stupid, Aika. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it before. And when Zuko sided with Azula in Ba Sing Se, I thought you were stupid for not seeing that he was lying to you,” the airbender hunched over. “But it didn’t matter. When I woke up after the lightning strike and they told me you were gone, captured by the Fire Nation… I felt horrible that I had ever thought badly of you.”

Aika smiled and got up to cross the small distance to sit next to her little brother. She pulled him close and he leaned his head on her shoulder. “I’m back now, and I’m not going anywhere. Promise.”

Zuko cleared his throat, “While this is a touching moment, would you like me to continue the story?” The rest of them nodded, and Aika felt a nudge from her other side, seeing Katara move closer to her. The older girl smiled happily and wrapped her other arm around the waterbender and pulled her close. Toph eventually moved to sit by Aika’s legs, enjoying the comforting vibrations between the energy-bender and the earth. Sokka moved closer too, on Katara’s other side. 

The sides of Zuko’s mouth twitched up in a tiny half-smile as Aika was reunited and accepted once again into her makeshift family. He cleared his throat again, this time of emotion, and repeated the story he had given Aika about the few weeks between the Fall of Ba Sing Se and her awakening in the Fire Nation. He emphasized Aika’s magnificent defeat of Azula in an Agni Kai, at which point the group cheered in happiness. When he got to the end, when his father would announce Aika’s victory, he paused. Aika took over from there, telling them how they had been forced to marry quickly, but she assured them that she was okay with it and happy. 

“She’s telling the truth,” Toph confirmed. 

“So, you’re married to our enemy and you’re happy?” Sokka questioned cynically. He eyed Zuko carefully, looking for any signs that he had hurt his sister. Zuko gazed back confidently. 

“Aika, you sure he’s telling the truth?” Katara queried.

The prince spoke slowly, composed and unfazed by the mistrust, “I love Aika and I would never hurt her.”

Toph nodded, feeling the truthful vibrations. “He’s telling the truth too.”

“How do we know you won’t hurt us though?” posed Aang. “You have before. You’ve betrayed us before.”

“I would be hurting and betraying Aika if I hurt you too. I vowed I wouldn’t,” the prince returned.

The airbender got up from his spot and walked around the fire to where Zuko sat and stood in front of the firebender. Aika held her breath. Whatever happened now would determine whether she kept or lost her family. “I once asked you if you think we could have been friends. You didn’t really answer me, not with words, anyway. Do you think we could?”

Zuko stood up as well, looking down at the airbender, the Avatar he had once hunted, and held out his hand. “I hope so.”

Aang nodded and took it. 

Toph, Katara, Aang and Sokka woke up late the next morning, all happily enjoying sleeping in their beds in the tent again. None of them were prepared for the sight (or sense in Toph’s case) of Zuko smiling as he poured tea and Aika smiling back as utensils, pots and pans flew around the kitchen cooking for them. The firebender handed his wife her tea and then noticed the rest of the group standing there. He looked at Aika and nodded in their direction, his expression going back to the stone-faced prince they knew all too well. 

“Oh, good morning, guys. Breakfast will be ready in about ten minutes if you’re hungry. Tea?” she grinned.

The earthbender, with nerves of steel, hopped over and onto a stool next to the energy-bender. “Yeah, thanks, Sparky.” She turned her head in the direction of Zuko expectantly. He rolled his eyes but poured the small girl a cup. 

Sokka rubbed his eyes, and muttered, “Is it just me or is the Prince of Doom making tea?”

Zuko rolled his eyes again. “I’m not completely horrible. I never have been… Just…” He sighed. “Nevermind, whatever.” He turned to Aika. “We should get going soon after breakfast.”

She hummed and nodded. “Yeah, probably. Where are you guys headed anyway?”

“Look, it’s not that we don’t trust you Aika, but…” Katara trailed off, her eyes darting to Zuko.

He shrugged and stood, walking past them all and towards the entrance to the tent. “It’s fine. I get it. I’ll go.” 

“No, Zuko,” Aika jumped up and stopped him from leaving. “Don’t. It’s okay.” Instead, she changed the subject from something they believed would be sensitive information. “I won’t ask that. So instead, what have you guys been up to in the Fire Nation? Got any adventures you’d like to share?”

The four launched into their crazy adventures over breakfast, from the time Aang got roped into going to school in the Fire Nation, to Katara pretending to be a spirit called the Painted Lady, to Sokka’s sword-fighting master, to Toph’s scams in a village. Aika laughed at their recounted tales and then they were packing up and starting to walk again, Sokka in the lead with his map. Aika happily greeted Appa and Momo, to which the bison groaned in delight and the lemur chittered excitedly. 

Seeing this as a perfect time to stretch her legs with the animals, Aika transformed into her tiger animagus and did several cat-like stretches before Momo jumped over her and then ran away, inviting the tigress to a game of chase. She accepted and the two ran and bounded around the group. She didn’t notice that the group had stopped moving forward until Momo climbed onto Aang’s shoulder and she had to skid to a stop to prevent a collision with the airbender. 

Aang laughed, “Momo! I never pegged you for a cheater!” He tickled the lemur while he chattered back at him.

“Aika?”

The tigress recognised the voice of her mate and turned. Her mate had an expression that her animal mind couldn’t really decipher, but Aika definitely could. She had forgotten to tell him about her other form. She transformed back and said sheepishly, “Surprise.”

Zuko mumbled dumbly, “You... you can turn into a tiger.”

She nodded and strolled over to him, “It’s common in my world. We call them animagus forms.”

He smirked and pulled her close, “My Tora.”

“Tora?” she asked.

“An old native word for tiger,” he explained.

She beamed, “I like it!” She turned in his arms, “Hey Sokka, my tiger has a name, Tora!”

“Aww! I wanted to name the tiger!” he groaned and whined.

And just like that most of the tension was gone in the group.

They were sitting around a campfire that night telling each other scary stories when suddenly, Toph straightened up and placed her hands on the ground. Gasping, she said, “Wait! Guys, did you hear that? I hear people under the mountain. And they're screaming.”

Sokka, assuming Toph is joking, relaxed. “Pft! Nice try, Toph.”

“No, I'm serious. I hear something.”

“You're probably just jumpy from the ghost stories…” remarked Katara.

“It just... stopped.”

Aang gripped onto Katara and looked at Aika, “All right, now I'm getting scared.”

“Hello, children.” Everyone screamed in terror upon hearing the strange woman's voice and scrambled from the ground. An elderly woman emerged from the shadows of the trees. “Sorry to frighten you. My name is Hama. You children shouldn't be out in the forest by yourselves at night.” She came closer to stand by the fire. “I have an inn nearby. Why don't you come back there for some spiced tea and warm beds?”

Aika stiffened beside Zuko and squeezed his hand. He immediately turned to her in concern, upon which she muttered a spell under her breath to glamour his eyes blue. His gold eyes would be a dead giveaway that he was Fire Nation and this woman would have no qualms about killing him. Sokka, however, said, “That’s okay. We have a tent, we just haven’t put it up yet. We’re camping.”

The old woman smiled, “I insist, kids. You know you should be careful. People have been disappearing in these woods.”

“What do you mean "disappearing"?” Katara asked her.

“When the moon turns full, people walk in and they don't come out. Come with me, you’ll be safe in the inn.” The woman started walking away, expecting them to follow. As she did, Aika whispered a quick _obliviate_ to rid the old bloodbender of the memory of seeing her and Zuko.

They all turned to Aika for confirmation, but Katara was the first to speak, “I think we should go, Aika. It’s not often we get invited to stay with someone friendly.” The girl looked determined. 

“Okay, Katara, you, Aang, Sokka and Toph go. Just don’t mention Zuko and I to her again, okay?”

“Why?”

The oldest girl looked at her pleadingly, “Please, for me? If you go, I’m sure you'll figure out why.”

Confused, but curious, the waterbender nodded and stood with her brother, Toph and Aang to go follow the old woman. Once they were out of sight, Zuko asked, “What was that all about?”

“I got an odd vibe from that woman. She’s not what she seems and her energy screamed hatred. I’m putting up a _fidelius_ charm tonight. You okay to be the secret keeper?”

He was thankful that she had explained that to him a few nights ago. “Okay. What did you do to my eyes, by the way?”

“You felt that? You shouldn’t have been able to. Usually only another wizard, sorry, energy-bender, can feel that.” She walked a bit more into the woods and started setting up the ward stones for the _fidelius_. Once she was done, she cast the charm and took his hand, “Do you Fire Prince Zuko swear to hold the secret of Aika’s tent in the middle of the Fire Nation woods?”

“I do swear to hold the secret.” 

The charm completed and locked in place. And she promptly forgot where she had set up camp. “Zuko, love, can you tell me the secret?”

The next day was pretty quiet. Zuko and Aika set about their routine and she knew that her family would come looking for her if they were in trouble. Besides, she knew the trouble wouldn’t start until the next night anyway. It was during the next afternoon that she decided to go check in on her family. Zuko opted to stay by the tent. She found Sokka, Toph and Aang in the village and the Water Tribe boy shared with her his suspicions about Hama, how she was from the Southern Water Tribe, but he still got an odd feeling about her. “We were just about to go speak to Old Man Ding about the disappearances though if you want to come?”

“Sure.”

They ventured up the hill in the village and it was as the sun was starting to go down that the four approached Old Man Ding, who was boarding up his windows. He shared with them his experience. “Didn't see no spirit, just felt something come over me like I was possessed. Forced me to start walking toward the mountain.” He pointed to the nearby mountain. “I tried to fight it, but I couldn't control my own limbs. It just about had me into a cave up there,” he said, imitating a walking puppet. “And I looked up at the moon for what I thought would be my last glimpse of light. But then the sun started to rise and I got control of myself again! I just high-tailed it away from that mountain as quick as I could!”

“Oh no! I did hear people screaming in the mountain. The missing villagers must still be there!” Toph yelled. The group hightailed it towards the mountain, Aika sighing in pure relief that Zuko was safe under the _fidelius_ charm. The bloodbender wouldn’t find him under that. When they were close to the base of the mountain, Toph crouched down and felt the ground with her hand. “I can hear them. They're this way!” She led them to a cave and the four descended into the dark cave and approached a solid metal door, torches nearby. Using metalbending, Toph broke it down, while the four proceeded to make their way through the tunnel, Aika lighting their path with a _lumos_ charm. They arrived at the end to see several villagers chained to the walls of the cave.

Aang was confused, “I didn’t know spirits made prisons like this.”

One of the prisoners cried, “It was no spirit!”

“It was a witch!” Aika flinched slightly when she heard the word ‘witch’ being spat with so much venom. That was her identity, or it had once been, and that woman had spat on it. Aang noticed and put his hand on her arm briefly in reassurance. 

As Toph unlocked her shackles, another prisoner said, “She seems like a normal old woman, but she controls people like some dark puppetmaster!”

Sokka gritted his teeth, “Hama!”

“We have to stop her!” Aang shouted.

“I’ll free these people,” the earthbender announced. “You guys go!”

Aang, Sokka and Aika nodded and ran back out the way they came, Aika leading them by tracking Katara’s bracelet. But the scene she came to was not what she was expecting. It was Zuko and Katara fighting, Zuko obviously being controlled by Hama using her bloodbending technique. “No, I’m sorry Katara. I don’t want to hurt you,” Zuko cried as he was forced to take a swing at Katara. Thankfully, she couldn’t force him to firebend. Katara pushed Zuko to the side and sent a water stream straight at Hama, knocking her to the ground. Zuko was released from her hold and Aika ran to him, ignoring everyone else. She quickly checked him over and other than a headache from the knock to the ground and a weird tingling feeling in his body, he was okay.

Sokka yelled at the old lady, “We know what you've been doing, Hama!”

“Give up!” Aang cried, taking a fighting stance. “You're outnumbered!”

“No!” the old woman shouted, rising from the ground. “You've outnumbered yourselves.”

She began bloodbending Aang and Sokka, who yelled in fear and sent them in Katara's direction. Katara pushed them out of her way and drew water from the ground, sending a stream at Hama, who in turn drew water from a vine and used a water wheel to deflect the attack. The crazy old bat then tried to bloodbend Aika and Zuko, but Aika cast a shield, which seemed to deflect the bending energy Hama was trying to use. In shock that her bloodbending was not working, the old woman turned her attention back to Katara who was freezing Sokka and Aang to nearby trees so they wouldn’t hurt each other.

“Stay behind the shield,” Aika commanded her husband and he nodded, knowing that firebending was not going to help in this instance. Aika ran over to Aang and Sokka, who had been broken out of their ice cages by Hama.

Sinisterly, the old waterbender stated, “Don't hurt your friends, Katara! And don't let them hurt each other!” She used bloodbending to send them colliding straight into one another with Sokka's sword pointed straight at Aang.

Aika threw up a shield over her brothers to protect them from Hama’s bending, but Katara didn’t notice what she had done. The young waterbender cried out, horrified. “No!”

Aang and Sokka, who had halted in their movements the second Aika cast the shield, looked over at Hama. The old woman suddenly stiffened, while Katara had an unsure look on her face as she used bloodbending to subdue the elder. Aika immediately bound Hama in conjured chains, and the old woman grunted in discomfort as Katara released the hold she had on her.

Just as that was done, the imprisoned villagers and Toph approached the scene along with some of the Fire Nation guards from the village. The elderly waterbender was arrested, handcuffs placed around her wrists. “You're going to be locked away forever.”

Hama simply smiled, “My work is done.” She turned to Katara. “Congratulations, Katara. You're a bloodbender.”

The young waterbender, who was clearly distressed, broke down in tears. Aika moved to wrap her arms around her younger sister, holding her closer and rubbing her back soothingly. They heard Hama laugh evilly as she was dragged away by the villagers. Katara wept harder. “Shh, shh, it’s okay, Katara. It’s okay.” The three guys and Toph stood there awkwardly for a moment before Zuko gestured for them to follow him, so he could lead them back to the tent. Aang dragged Toph along.

Once they were alone, Aika whispered, “Katara, love, this does not make you evil, or bad. I promise you. And even so, we wouldn’t care for you or love you any less.”

“How could you say that?” she said tearfully. “I used someone’s own body against them and I didn’t even need to. You had saved them before I did it. I’m evil and you should hate me.”

Aika laughed softly but it was without humour. “Love, I’ve done this before, and you didn’t admonish me for it. Remember Zhao and Long Feng? I tortured one and got the other one to spill his deepest darkest secrets against his will. You didn’t love me any less for that. You don’t have to ever use it again if you don’t want to. Just please, don’t cry, or hurt yourself, or beat yourself up, or even lose any sleep over what you did. You and I, we don’t do these things for personal gain, greed or power. But we would do _anything_ to protect the ones we love, and that makes all the difference.”

Katara sniffled against her shoulder and gripped onto Aika tighter. The older girl held her sister close, not allowing her to fall apart.


	26. A Solar Eclipse is still Blinding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.

Trying to bring up the fact that she knew where they were headed, what was going to happen and all the information that she and Zuko had gathered in the Fire Nation Palace was a bit difficult when no one was willing to talk to either her or Zuko about it. It wasn’t that her family didn’t trust her, but they didn’t trust Zuko yet and seemed to think that she wouldn’t be able to keep anything a secret from him.

That wasn’t true at all, but they couldn’t know that. The number of secrets she still harboured was immense, in particular a certain someone she had merged with, her increased power, the fact that she knew the outcome of the Battle between Ozai and Aang etc. 

It was when they got to the site for the meetup for the planned invasion and Sokka said, “Okay, we’re here. And a whole four days early!” and the subsequent panic attack that it sent Aang into that she put her proverbial foot down.

“Oh for Merlin’s sake! Aang, calm down!” The Avatar didn’t listen. 

Zuko just looked totally confused. “Why are we here?” he asked, looking around. “This island is uninhabited, so it’s not like we are meeting up with someone.”

Katara and Sokka looked a bit apprehensive to tell him about their plans, but Aika wouldn’t have it anymore. “Seriously you guys. If I had realised that this is what you were planning, I would have talked you out of it completely.”

Sokka frowned, “What are you talking about?”

“The Day of Black Sun, ring any bells?”

The Fire Prince was the one who answered, “Sure, my father and sister have been preparing and planning for an invasion that they think will happen on the day of the solar eclipse since the Fall of Ba Sing Se. Azula had apparently received a report of some sort that said rebels will attack. Not to mention that it’s not like my father not to have backup plans or a number of places to hide out to wait out the lack of firebending. It’s the perfect time for assassins to kill the Fire Lord.”

Jaws dropped and eyes bugged out.

“WHAT?!” Sokka yelled, waving his arms about dramatically. “You mean that they know about this?!”

“Why are you yelling, Sokka?” Zuko asked. Aika snorted, remembering that she had once said that to him too. Funnily enough, about the same topic.

The Water tribe teen grumbled but when he spoke again, his voice was substantially lower. “So the Fire Nation knows about a plot on the Day of Black Sun?”

“Yeah, of course. The last solar eclipse was considered ‘The Darkest Day in Fire Nation History’ for a reason. They don’t teach us what happened on that day in schools or anything, but the Royal Family certainly knows, and so do the Fire Sages,” Zuko added.

“That’s it then, we’re all dead!” Aang exclaimed, throwing his hands up in emphasis and sitting down on a rock in dismay.

Toph grumbled, “How do we call off the invasion with this much late notice? Everyone is coming.”

Zuko recoiled slightly, “Everyone? Who’s everyone?”

“Everyone we know who is not Fire Nation. Not that we know that many people from the Fire Nation,” Katara mentioned. 

Aika shrugged. “We can always tell them to call it off when they get here.”

Aang still panicked. While the rest of the team tried to get him to calm down and get some rest using various methods, Aika simply banished a Calming Draught into his stomach and he immediately relaxed. “You couldn’t have done that earlier?” Katara mumbled. 

The energy-bender shrugged unashamedly. “Sometimes, it’s funny watching you guys struggle when you know you can just ask me.” No one had a witty comeback for that one.

“We are not calling off the invasion, son.”

“But Dad…”

“No, Sokka. This might be our only chance. You think I’ll believe the son of the Fire Lord and his girlfriend when they tell me not to attack the Fire Nation?” Hakoda glared at Zuko and Aika. “They probably want to protect Ozai.”

Hakoda had arrived earlier that morning with his contingent of Southern Water Tribe warriors and all the people they had met along their journey. Now Aika had heard stories from Sokka and Katara, they had sung the man’s praises, and she had no doubt that Hakoda loved his children dearly. Unfortunately, the man had taken one look at Zuko with his gold eyes and Aika’s hand holding his and had judged immediately. He had taken his son aside and asked why two people from the Fire Nation were there, none too quietly either, and after poor Sokka had said the words ‘prince of the Fire Nation’, the Southern Tribe chief’s disdain flew sky-high.

As more people started arriving for the invasion, Sokka and Katara had tried explaining that the Fire Nation knew they were coming. But again, as soon as Zuko and Aika’s names were mentioned in the same sentence as ‘information’, Chief Hokoda was sceptical and mistrustful.

“Um, sir,” Aang began, “Aika is-”

Hakoda’s glare worsened when Aika returned it, “They betrayed their own country! What assurances do we have that they won’t betray us too?”

Katara tried, “Dad-”

“How could you two trust anyone from the Fire Nation? After what happened with your mother, I would have thought you would know better.”

Bato, the man Aika and Aang had met once on an island came up behind Hakoda, “Hey Chief, it looks like almost everyone has arrived for this.” He noticed Aika standing off to the side with Zuko and smirked, “Ahh, I remember. Aika the Powerful. Wasn’t that the man who attacked us with the shirshu?”

Aang actually facepalmed. Sensing the tension, Bato made a hasty retreat. Hakoda’s eyes narrowed in on Zuko. “You attacked my children?” Zuko remained calm and looked at the man dead in the eyes, but he didn’t say anything. Hakoda took that as confirmation anyway. He looked at Aika. “My son spoke about you a lot when he came to visit to plan for this. Called you his sister and told us stories about your power and skill. But you are certainly no child of mine and you are not welcome as a member of the Southern Water Tribe. You disgrace everything that is the Water Tribe.”

Aika shrugged nonchalantly, but inside there was a pang because she was about to lose two members of her family, at least. “I didn’t ask you to be my father, did I? And I never was Water Tribe. I wasn’t born there, wasn’t raised there, none of my blood relatives come from there. Insult me all you want, Chief Hakoda. You don’t like that I fell in love with someone from the Fire Nation, okay. That’s fine. However, don’t send your men to their deaths because of your prejudices.”

“As if I would believe anything that comes out of your mouth. Yours or your dishonourable, traitorous, murderous, backstabbing boyfriend.”

Katara, Sokka, Toph and Aang all facepalmed this time. Aika’s eye twitched and even Zuko slowly took a step back, predicting the impending explosion and not wanting to startle her into attacking. “Say that again,” she muttered lowly, her wand dropping to her hand in a tight grip. Seeing that small movement, the others backed up as far as they could as well. 

Hakoda sneered, reminding her of Snape, “Your-”

He didn’t manage to get another word in before, in front of everyone’s eyes, Aika flicked her wand and Hakoda was transformed into a small animal. A ferret, to be exact. She had seen Professor Moody do this to Draco Malfoy and it seemed somewhat appropriate. She levitated the ferret up to eye level, smiling when she saw the fear in its eyes. “Now, Chief. Listen carefully or I’ll let you stay like this forever. I don’t care what you say about me. I don’t care if you belittle, berate, insult or sneer at me. But the second you do it to anyone I love, especially my husband, you’ll be reminded not to mess with one of the most powerful people in the world. I do not bend elements, Hakoda. I bend energy. I can create it, manipulate it, change it, bend it to my will. That means, I can do anything. Including letting you spend the rest of your life as a ferret. Now, I’m going to change you back and you can scream, rant and yell at me all you want, but if you even look in Zuko’s direction, you’re turning back. Got me?”

The ferret nodded in fear. She set it down and flicked her wand again, transfiguring him back into a human.

As Aika spoke to a small animal that used to be his father, Sokka mumbled, “She’s scary.” Everyone, even Zuko, nodded in agreement. 

Toph smiled, “I for one, am glad she’s on our side. Can you imagine if she fought for the Fire Lord?”

Aang blanched just thinking about it. “There would be no way I could win.”

Katara frowned, “She just outed herself as an energy-bender though. Won’t that cause trouble?”

“And just who would be able to take her on? I’m the Avatar and I can’t. I watched as she downed Azula with a simple red light.”

“She can do much more than that,” Zuko mumbled. “When she was pretending to be a firebender, she managed to bend a life-sized dragon made of fire. Not even my father can do that.”

They all shuddered. Oddly, neither of the Water Tribe teens were mad that she had turned their father into a ferret. She had changed him back, after all.

Even with the information that Zuko and Aika had provided, Hakoda still went ahead with the invasion plans. Even worse, he wouldn’t allow Aika or Zuko to join them. He didn’t trust them, Aika even less so now, but he wasn’t about to say anything to the girl for fear of being turned back into a furry rodent. The rest of Team Avatar didn’t really want to go without her, but she convinced them that they should follow their father. She was not about to be the reason for a fight between the Water Tribe family.

Toph, the stubborn earthbender that she was, refused to go on principle until Aika pointed out that they would be absolutely helpless without her. Toph saw the truth in that and reluctantly agreed. So Aika and Zuko watched from the top of the Black Cliffs as the invasion force moved out. 

They would lose. And they would lose badly.

The Fire Prince and Princess watched as the sun and moon steadily moved towards each other. She squeezed his hand and said, “They are going to lose.”

“I know.”

“Hakoda is an idiot.”

“I know.”

She sighed and sat down in the grass. “What are we going to do?”

“Wait for them I guess,” he said, sitting beside her. After a long pause, he mused aloud, “You know, if you weren’t with me, I probably would have used the eclipse as the perfect time to confront my father.”

“Did you still want to?”

Zuko glanced at her, “How would we-” He cut himself off when she gave him a deadpanned look. “Oh right. That… I hate that.”

She snorted softly. “Well.. did you want to confront your father?”

“Not really… Let’s go.”

Aika chuckled and stood, pulling him up as well. “Close your eyes and hold your breath!” A sharp tug and that sickening sensation of being pulled through a hole that was way too small later,   
Zuko felt really nauseous. Worse than every other time she had done that. “Okay, you can open your eyes now.”

“Not yet. I’m gonna be sick.” He didn’t even shake his head, fearing any movement would have him throwing up.

“We apparated a longer distance this time so the feeling would be worse.” A minute later, he had calmed enough that he could open his eyes. He was in his bedroom… In the Fire Palace. Spirits was he glad that there was only one of her and that she wasn’t an awful person like his father. The things she could do with her power. 

He caught sight of her sitting on their once bed. As much as he hated his father and what the Fire Nation stood for, he would never regret making the wrong choice. If he hadn’t been stupid, he wouldn’t have his Aika, his wife, a proper family again. He missed their time spent in this room, or alone in the tent. He was thankful to Agni that he was somehow lucky enough to have a beautiful, confident, intelligent, powerful woman as his wife, and that she loved him. She loved him enough that she threatened the father of the two Water Tribe teens she called siblings, potentially putting their friendships in jeopardy, because of an insult to him.

Without thinking, he strode forward with urgency in his step and captured her in a deep kiss. She gasped and moaned softly when he used her surprise to his advantage. She gently pushed back on his chest to disengage, even though she desperately wanted to continue where that was heading. “Zuko, I hate to break this amazing moment, but the eclipse will be starting soon.”

The reminder that he was here to confront his father broke the lust-filled haze in his brain. He shook his head to clear it. “Right. We should go.” Under the cover of disillusionment charms, they made their way over to the bunker that they knew Ozai would be using. In the distance, they could hear the commotion of the invasion, but they paid no mind, determined to get to their destinations. 

Just as they reached the double doors that led to the Fire Lord, Zuko could feel the drain of energy form the eclipse. He whispered to himself, “I’m ready to face you.” He felt Aika’s hand touch the spot between his shoulder blades and a small jolt of energy.

“To defend yourself, if you need it. The sun doesn’t work on my power.”

He nodded once, gratefully and opened the doors, confidently striding in. She heard, “Prince Zuko? You’re alive? How a-” just as the doors swung closed again.

She waited anxiously during those tense seven minutes and twenty-two seconds. Counted them down in her head as if her life depended on it. She heard shouts beyond the door, but she knew Ozai couldn’t hurt him. Not yet. Just as her internal timer hit zero, she heard the distinct crackle of lightning and then an explosion and a thump. She practically ripped the doors off their hinges with her wand as she burst in. Finding Zuko by the door, she looked him over once, only finding his clothes a little bit charred from the lightning bolt, and then to the downed Ozai on the far side of the room, his expression one of pure rage. 

When he caught sight of the girl, the evil firebender smirked, believing he had won. He had seen her expression that night at the Agni Kai, had known that she didn’t really want to marry Zuko. Why would she? A beautiful, talented and powerful firebender like her would never want to be tied to his weak traitorous excuse of a son. “Ah, lovely Aika,” he drawled, standing on his feet, as flames curled around him from the lightning strike. “It seems that my son, your husband, has decided to betray the Fire Nation, which makes you a traitor as well by extension. Kill him, and you shall be pardoned. I will even allow you to keep your status as Fire Princess. You have my word,” he promised.

Ozai didn’t like her smile, didn’t like it at all. In a teasing tone, she casually remarked, “You know, Lord Ozai, I never did tell you about my family. You see… My brother is the Avatar.” She conjured her fire dragon, which curled itself around her and Zuko protectively. “And you made me swear in front of the Fire Nation to be loyal, faithful and supportive of my husband first and foremost over all others.” Her smirk was just as evil as any of his own could ever be. “I hate it when my evil plans bite me in the ass, don’t you?”

The Fire Lord growled in rage and went to generate lightning again, but she was faster. The fire dragon was upon him before he could move and when he finally wrestled the fire under control, the two were gone. He roared.

They were back at the rendezvous point before Aang, Sokka and Toph showed up. Katara and Hakoda were surprised to see them. “How did you get here?” Katara asked. 

“I apparated.”

Katara nodded in understanding but everyone around them looked confused. They were saved from an explanation when Bato looked up and suddenly became alarmed. Everyone followed his line of sight. They could just see the top of the Royal Palace where several red and black war balloons were rising into the air. In front of the Palace, on the battlefield, dozens of soldiers gathered and stood at attention, awaiting orders.

The Mechanist from the Northern Air Temple cried, “My own invention! Oh, this is terrible!” Teo laid a hand on his father's shoulder to comfort him. Unfortunately, the Fire Nation had a habit of taking inventions and adapting them, making them bigger and better. Normally, this would be an amazing skill, one of innovation and progress, however, considering the Fire Nation constantly used that skill to create more weapons of mass destruction, it wasn’t good for their enemies. Five airships started to rise into the air from behind the Fire Palace. 

Katara turned and pointed to the sky. “They're back!”

Appa groaned as he flew in, Toph, Aang, Sokka, and Momo with him, all looking very disappointed and dismayed at the airships. Katara ran up to Appa who landed with a thud. His eyes flickered over to Aika and Zuko standing there but his sister’s brief smile did nothing to dispel the feeling of utter failure in his stomach.

Sokka yelled, getting off Appa, “It was all a trap! Aika and Zuko were right. Azula knew we were coming and she's plotted out every move!” Toph hopped down from the bison. “We've just got to get to the beach as fast as we can. If we can make it to the submarines, maybe we can get away safely.”

“They've got airpower, but so do I!” Aang snapped open his glider. “I'm gonna do what I can to slow them down.”

Aika halted his movements with a hand on his arm. “I’ve got this Aang. You get the people out. Go to the Western Temple.” The Avatar looked at the frighteningly resolute expression on her face and nodded, running towards the others and ushering them down towards the submarines. Aika smirked at Zuko, the only one who still stood there. “Go, love. I’ll catch up with you.”

Sparing her a mushy and cliche scene of a heartwarming goodbye kiss, he simply grinned, winked at her and ran after the Avatar. Thank Merlin he knew her well enough by now.

“Well then… Let’s show ‘em what an energy-bender can really do,” she said to no one. Unbeknownst to her, her cyan eyes glowed with her power.

Accessing the vast memories of Slytherin and her own substantial knowledge base, she went to work. And it was way more fun than it had any right to be. Using her wand in one hand and wandless magic from the other, she raised debris, spare bits and pieces, anything that could levitate really, transfigured them all into pointy metal spears of various sizes and launched them at the balloons like thousands and thousands of arrows. The war balloons started slowing down significantly, losing air and therefore altitude. At the airships, she cast a multitude of _defodio_ charms, slashing hexes, _bombardas, confringos, reductos, expulsos_ , pretty much everything and anything she could think of that would rip, tear, explode or otherwise break parts of the ships so the Fire Nation couldn’t follow them. She managed to actually down one of the airships when a few particularly well-aimed _defodio_ charms tore away the rudder, the propeller sets, and a rather large gaping hole in one side of it. It crashed down into the field below.

As soldiers ran down the plaza road towards her, she raised a massive translucent shield that shimmered the same colour as her eyes. The forcefield extended upwards of one hundred feet and lengthwise of about two hundred feet to each side of her into the entrance of the volcano formation. It put a massive drain on her core, but with the power of two, she held steady. Nothing could get through it. Soldiers’ blades bent on it, fire bounced off of it. Once she knew that her family were safely on the submarines, she released the power on the shield. It took a moment for the shield to fade completely, but by the time it did, Aika had apparated away.


	27. The Westerly Sun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar or HP or make any money or anything. And anything copied from the TV series is just to make it more in line with canon.
> 
> §§ = Parseltongue. It'll be obvious :)
> 
> Enjoy!

She tracked her family to the Western Air Temple, apparating a few miles at a time, just to make sure she didn’t end up on top of someone or stuck somewhere she couldn’t get out of. On her last jump, she could tell that her family were travelling almost in a single file line, so she figured it would be safe to apparate fifty yards or so to Aang’s left. She ended up very close to a tree, but otherwise, she made it one piece. She was absolutely exhausted after so many apparition jumps and the power drain of the fire dragon and the shield she had conjured. She was just stumbling tiredly out of the tree line when she heard Katara yell, “This is humiliating!”

“You mean getting thoroughly spanked by the Fire Nation or having to walk all the way to the Western Air Temple?” Sokka asked her.

“Both.”

“Aika!” Zuko yelled when he noticed her, running up to her. At that moment, her legs decided to give out beneath her and she collapsed on her ass on the ground. How embarrassing, an energy-bender without any energy.

She mumbled, “Oww.” Zuko knelt by her side, his eyes filled with concern, but she just waved it away. “I’m fine, just tired. I think I need a new method of tracking you guys. That was absolutely exhausting.” By now, Toph, Sokka, Katara and Aang had all gathered around her as well and everyone else had stopped moving. 

“Are you sure, Aika?” Aang asked worriedly.

She smiled, “Yeah, I’m cool, Aang.” 

“How did you get away?” Someone behind the group asked. Teo, the kid from the Northern Air Temple.

Sokka answered on Aika’s behalf, “She can disappear and reappear in different places.” She rolled her eyes at the blunt explanation, but she didn’t bother to say anything or explain further. That was probably the simplest way that they could understand anyway.

Zuko cut off the millions of questions the others would have asked and then asked himself, “Are you okay to walk the rest of the way to the Western Air Temple?”

“Appa can carry you if you need,” Aang offered.

“Why couldn't he carry me then?” Sokka whined.

She chuckled and stood, holding onto Zuko just in case her knees decided they hated her again. Thankfully, she stayed upright. “Yeah, I’m good to walk. Let’s go.” She glanced up and noticed there was only a small number of people travelling with her family. “Where is everyone else?” 

“Huh?” Katara asked.

“I told everyone to get back to the submarines and I would hold off the Fire Nation. So where is everyone else, like your dad and Bato, or the Mechanist?”

Katara and Sokka looked down brokenly. Katara explained, “Our dad and everyone else decided to stay behind, get captured and give us time to escape.” Aang looked away and Zuko shifted from foot to foot awkwardly. Toph just stood there, staring at the ground.

The angry growl that escaped from Aika’s throat was so loud that they looked back up in surprise. They could have sworn she had transformed into her tiger form. “They did what?”

“They stayed behind,” Toph repeated.

Aika’s right eye twitched. Uh oh, they all thought simultaneously. “Are you fucking kidding me?!” she shouted. They all scrambled backwards, Katara pulling Toph as well, just in case she blew. “Are you telling me that I conjured that fucking shield for nothing?! That I downed all the war balloons and one of those airships, just so they could turn around and wait to be captured?! What fucking morons! Why did they think I stayed behind? To have tea and crumpets with Ozai and Azula?! I almost drained my core for fucking nothing!”

Zuko could see the blue-green glow that surrounded her and quickly rushed to grab her in a hug. If she had an angry outburst of energy now, with her exhaustion, she might actually hurt herself. He held onto her tightly, knowing that she wouldn’t willingly hurt him, so she would have to calm herself down. “Deep breaths, Aika,” he told her. “You’re too tired to use any more energy now.”

She obeyed, and on her third breath out, she was calm enough to speak without shouting and the cyan glow surrounding her dissipated. “Okay. I’m calm.” Zuko released her and she turned to look at Sokka and Katara. “Was it your father’s idea?” They nodded. “When we get him out, because we will get him out, I’m gonna turn him back into a ferret.”

The two Water Tribe teens didn’t know how to respond to that honestly. They wanted to get their father out of prison, but to let her turn him back into a tiny animal? Toph had no such internal conflict. She laughed, “Serves him right! We told him that you could hold them off!”

The older girl smiled, “Thanks Toph. Now, let’s get to the Western Air Temple.”

They had only been walking for another two minutes when Toph stomped her foot down and announced, “Hey, we're here! I can feel it!” They were standing on the edge of a cliff surrounded by woods and mountain ranges, but nothing to indicate a temple of some sort.

Katara looked around, “Uhhh ... I think your feet need their eyes checked.”

“No, she's right. We are here!” Aang claimed cheerfully.

Sokka looked around before shrugging at Aika and Zuko. “Wow... it's amazing!” Toph mentioned. 

Aang was busy trying to find the hidden path to the temple underneath the cliff, but Zuko didn’t have that kind of patience. Tying a rope around a nearby tree, he descended down and swung himself back and forth twice before jumping down. He was suitably stunned by the sight before him. Toph was right, it was amazing. He called back, “You guys gotta see this!”

As the others descended either by the rope or by the stairs Aang found, Zuko stood at the edge of the cliff, looking out at the view. It reminded him of the cliffs he and his Uncle had seen just after his banishment. Subconsciously, he raised his hand to his left eye, feeling the smooth skin where once he adorned the horrible burn, his mark of shame and humiliation. Caught up in memories, he didn’t notice anyone behind him until a hand was on his shoulder. He turned to face Aika, “Sorry.”

She gave him a small smile, “For what?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know.”

She chuckled, “You know, where I come from, we have this horrible habit of immediately apologising for everything. It’s a part of being British. I think you might have caught the sorry bug too.” She kissed his left cheek. “If you don’t have anything to apologise for, or you don’t mean it, don’t say it okay? So then when you do say it, I know you mean it.” She patted his arm once and then left to go sit with Toph.

Some of the other kids wanted to go explore the ruins of the temple and Aang was about to run up and join them when Katara called him back. Sulkily, Aang asked, “Why can't I go?”

“We need to decide what we're gonna do now, and since you're the Avatar, maybe you should be a part of this,” Katara advised.

Huffing slightly, the airbender took a seat next to Aika. “Fair enough. So, what's the new plan?”

Sokka declared, “Well if you ask me, the new plan is the old plan! You just need to master all four elements and confront the Fire Lord before the comet comes.”

Sarcastically, Aang remarked, “Oh, yeah. That's great, no problem. I'll just do that.

“Aang, no one said it's going to be easy,” Aika reminded gently.

“Well, it's not even gonna be possible! Where am I supposed to get a firebending teacher?”

As if summoned, Zuko walked up and stood behind Aika. “Shouldn’t you be resting, Aika? You used a lot of energy today and you were dead on your feet before,” he murmured, concerned for her.

She smiled brightly at Zuko and announced, “Aang, I found your firebending teacher!” Zuko’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, but he didn’t say anything. She didn’t look away from him. 

“What?!” Katara yelled.

“Are you kidding?” Sokka added. “I guess he’s not so bad now, but he’s still tried to capture us on multiple occasions.”

Aika glared at the Water Tribe boy, “Sokka, you have been travelling with Zuko fine in the last week and a bit, so what’s wrong with you? Keep in mind, I don’t care if it would rupture my core, I’m turning you into a ferret if you are continually negative about my husband.”

Sokka paled and didn’t say anything further, and Katara seemed like she wanted to speak, but Aika turned her piercing gaze on the girl, giving her the same warning silently. Wisely, Katara didn’t say anything, but Aika could tell that they were going to have a chat later. She was fine with that.

Aang, bless his heart, agreed, “You’re right, Aika. Zuko? Will you be my firebending teacher?”

After another brief non-verbal conversation between himself and his wife, Zuko replied, “Sure. If you want.” He looked at the Avatar. “I’m not gonna go easy on you though.”

The airbender smiled, “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

While Zuko and Aang started their first lesson with the last bits of sunlight and Sokka and Toph explored the Temple a bit, Aika was lying on the sofa in the tent reading a really dry potions book, trying to bore herself to sleep. But Katara walked in and sat down on the opposite sofa. “Aika, can we talk?”

Putting down the open book on her chest, Aika turned her head towards the waterbender, “What’s up?”

Katara sat stiffly, her blue dress covered in dirt and soot from the failed invasion, anger in her eyes. “How could you marry him?”

“You would have prefered I died?” the energy-bender responded sarcastically. Why had it taken her younger sister so long to bring this up? She figured this was a reaction to ‘losing’ her father to the Fire Nation and all the leftover anger she had over her mother’s death. If Katara brought it up, Aika would have no qualms shutting that shit down, nicely of course. It was her father’s own damn fault, honestly. And it wasn’t like Zuko himself had killed her mother. Yes, it was tragic, but projecting anger like that wasn’t fair either.

Some of the fight dropped out of Katara’s shoulders, not having expected that response, “Well… no. But Aang said you fell in love with him in Ba Sing Se. So you would have probably eventually married him. How could you love someone from the Fire Nation? They hurt us so much! They killed our mother and now we’ve lost our father too!”

Not wanting to rile the waterbender more, Aika calmly responded, “Katara…” She sat up with a small grunt from the effort and faced her. “You might not like hearing this, but the Fire Nation hasn’t actually done anything to me personally. I haven’t lost my parents or relatives or tribe or people to them, I lost everything in my old world. And Zuko… He’s… He’s different. The Fire Nation hasn’t been kind to him either. He told me about the talk you guys had in the Crystal Caverns.”

Katara flushed slightly, “He said he had lost his mother to the Fire Nation as well.”

“Right. That’s his story to tell, but my point is that he’s not a bad person, never has been. He was raised and taught one way, so that’s how he acted. Most of the Fire Nation is the same. The kids are taught that they live in the best nation, so they preach it. They are taught that the war is justified, so that is what they believe. Zuko, as the Crown Prince, was taught to believe it to the extent of fanaticism. He and Azula had the same upbringing, remember. He could have turned out like her.” 

Katara shuddered and conceded, “I guess so.”

“You can’t condemn him for the actions of others. He may have followed us all over the world to try and capture us, but has he really hurt us? Or do you just dislike him on principle now?” Katara’s flush deepened a bit. “And as for your father… That is in no way Zuko’s fault. I was holding the army back. Your dad made the choice to stay behind.”

All the remaining anger the Water Tribe girl held left her and she slumped back onto the sofa tiredly. “Yeah I guess so.” She eyed her older sister. “How did you end up falling for him anyway?”

She chuckled and smiled, looking away in reminiscence. It took a little while before she answered softly, “I guess, the first thing I noticed was that my magic, my energy, calls for him. It practically sings when he’s close. It has since the first time I saw him, and at one point, it got really hard to ignore.”

The girl blinked, “Your… energy?”

“Yeah,” she confirmed. “Then… I got to know him. Understand him. The more he chased us, the more we interacted, the more I figured out about him. What made him tick. Then I heard the story about his old scar, you remember that?” Katara nodded. Aika continued, “And when you and Sokka got sick from that mega-storm, Aang and I went to get your medicine. We were captured by Zhao briefly and Zuko came to our rescue. Obviously he didn’t know that I could have gotten us out of there, but it was… nice… all the same. I healed his scar then. He was the one who stopped me using the curse on Zhao in the North Pole. He was the one who actually stopped me going down a really dark path and I was grateful for that. But I think I really fell for him in Ba Sing Se. He grew up. He stopped being a spoiled-rotten preachy Prince and became… Zuko. A man, who also happened to be a Prince, not the other way around. I’ll admit, he still has his flaws and he can make some poor choices sometimes, he’s still a man and that means he’s doomed to constantly mess up,” Katara laughed at that, “but he admitted his mistake.”

Curious now, and happy that she was engaging in a little girl-talk with her sister, Katara asked, “What do you love about him?”

“What do you like about Aang?” she chuckled at the crimson blush that spread on her little sister’s cheeks. “I love his smile, it’s really rare, but I love it when he smiles. He’s driven, he’s strong, he’s smart and he’s caring and protective of those he loves. Oh, and have I mentioned he’s quite easy on the eyes? That definitely helps!”

Katara’s laugh echoed in the tent. “You’re so shallow sometimes.” The older girl joined in her laughter. “So you really love him huh?”

“I do. However, if you repeat any of what I said to him, I will find a way to hurt you when you least expect it,” she warned playfully.

The waterbender giggled, “I promise!”

“Good. Now. I’m sad to report that I won’t be able to cook tonight, since I’m so drained, so someone else will have to.” Aika stood shakily but managed to stay upright. “I’m going to go to bed early. I should be back to normal by morning.” Once Katara acknowledged her words, she shuffled to her room, promptly collapsed on the bed and fell asleep, not even bothering to change her clothes.

It was probably ten minutes later that Toph and Sokka came back into the tent immediately followed by Zuko and Aang. Katara relayed what Aika had said about dinner and how she had gone to sleep, and she was intrigued by the amount of concern that showed on the Fire Prince’s face when he looked in the direction of the bedrooms. Further still, he excused himself, saying he needed to go check on Aika. 

In the meantime, Sokka volunteered to cook dinner outside to include everyone else who had come to the Western Air Temple with them. Toph complained, hating the Water Tribe boy’s culinary skills, “All you know how to cook is fish!”

“Yeah, well, I don’t see you lifting a finger to help, Toph!”

“I’m blind!”

Aang and Katara chuckled at Sokka’s sheepish apology and hearing footsteps, they all turned to see Zuko emerge from the bedroom corridor. “She’ll be okay,” he said softly. They nodded and an awkward silence ensued. Zuko sighed, “Guys, look. I am sorry for how I treated you in the past. I’m not expecting instant forgiveness, but I don’t want to fight either. For Aika’s sake, if not my own. And if I am going to teach you firebending, Aang, we can’t be hostile to each other.”

Sokka, Aang and Toph all readily agreed and then headed outside to start working on dinner and hang out with the others. Katara, however, stayed behind and stopped Zuko from following. Once they were gone, the waterbender turned to the firebender. “I think we need to get something straight, now that everyone isn’t here. Aika loves you and everyone else seems to trust you. However, you and I both know you've struggled with doing the right thing in the past.” She approached him threateningly. Or as threatening as a fourteen-year-old girl can be to a twenty-year-old man. “So let me tell you something, right now. You make one step backwards, one slip-up, give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang or Aika, and you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I'll make sure your destiny ends... right then and there. Permanently.”

Zuko eyed her and nodded once, “Thanks for the heads up. But I won’t hurt either of them.” His tone conveyed how seriously he took his words. Without another word, both of them headed out to join the rest of the group.

True to her words, Aika was right as rain the next morning, chipper and bright as she and Zuko trained. But her chipper attitude could have had something to do with the activities that she had Zuko had gotten up to before they got out of bed that morning, not that anyone else needed to know that. The beauty of silencing wards.

“Aika, focus!” he called from the other side of the space they were using for practice. She snapped back to attention and his wide, knowing smirk indicated that he knew exactly what she was thinking about. She glared at him and he laughed. “Come on, princess. Bring it.”

He didn’t like giving her a sweet, couple nickname, claiming it wasn’t ‘him’ to call her ‘sweetie’, ‘honey’ or ‘darling’. Instead he called her ‘Tora’, ‘tigress’, or by her honorific of ‘princess’. She outwardly hated the last one, which was why he teasingly said it all the time, but secretly, her heart stuttered when he called her by it. She would never admit it though, which is probably why Toph snickered, having the tiny blackmail material on her older sister.

Bringing her curled fists up higher, she ignited the energy in her hands. He ignited his fire daggers. What followed was a magnificent display of the two different forms of firebending. They slashed, blasted, shot, kicked, streamed and sent waves of fire at each other. But at no point was it malicious or meant to hurt. It was almost playful, neither one making the fire hot enough to burn. At some point during their training though, they got a bit caught up in it and it became a real fight. Neither of them were worried considering Aika could heal them, so they upped the ante. They started playing dirty. 

They didn't notice the crowd they began to draw. Aang was the first one up there, followed by Toph and Katara. Some of the other kids from the invasion, namely Teo and Haru came up as well. Sokka was the last one to join the group of on-lookers. Team Avatar was stunned to see how Aika could ‘firebend’, since she hadn’t shown them yet. She looked like any other firebender, and yet, not. She didn’t fight with dedicated firebending moves or in traditional ‘kata’ stances. Her style seemed more… fluid, the fire seemed to pour out of her. Zuko’s style they were more familiar with, but even his form seemed to have changed to be less rigid and controlled.

Finally, he conjured a lightning bolt. The team’s breath stuttered in fear for their sister. They had no idea he could lightning bend like Azula! And what was he doing, aiming it at Aika?! Aang lurched forward, just about to jump in front of his sister to protect her, but Toph held him back, gripping his arm tightly. “Hold it, Twinkle Toes.”

In the time it took Toph to speak those words, Aika had redirected the lightning around herself and back toward Zuko. Zuko absorbed it and shot it skywards, and the fight continued like they hadn’t just been playing with a deadly amount of electrical energy. Eventually, much to the sock of everyone, Zuko managed to get himself close enough to pin Aika. She was brilliant with energy-bending, but hand-to-hand combat wasn’t her forte. When he pinned her arms to her side, the match was over. He had won.

Breathing heavily from exertion, they looked at each other for a few moments before his lips crashed onto hers roughly. Their focus quickly shifted, their adrenaline racing and blood pumping. He curled his arms around her and pulled her close and her arms came up to grip his tunic tightly. 

“Oogie!” someone cried. Sokka.

Zuko and Aika pulled apart, but he didn’t let her go. He closed his eyes in exasperation and leaned his forehead against the side of her as she turned her own to look at the spectators that stood on the side. “Really, Sokka? Oogie?” she asked sarcastically.

The teen nodded, his nose scrunched. “Yep, oogie!”

Zuko huffed quietly but then smirked against her hair so they couldn’t see. “Should we make them regret peeking in on our training session?” he whispered.

Loving the opportunity to freak them out and disgust them, she turned back to him and grinned, “One hundred percent.” He pulled her into another deep kiss, this one even deeper than before. They both chuckled at the exclamations of grossness and disgusted sounds, before they heard footsteps retreating from the training area. She pushed Zuko back lightly. “Come on, let's change and go eat. I’m sweaty and starving.” He grinned salaciously but took a step back. “Oh no, nuh-uh, I know that look. I really am hungry,” she said.

“Yep, so am I. Starving.” His eyes darkened with desire as he gave her a once over.

She was glad no one was watching them anymore because she would have hated them to see just how affected by that she was. Grabbing his shirt, she apparated them back to their room in the tent. 

When they finally decided to make another appearance to the world, Zuko and Aika found that it was past lunchtime and they were alone in the tent. With a flick of her wand, the kettle started boiling for tea and utensils began to dance around the kitchen, preparing a light lunch for them both.

They were just sitting down to eat together when Sokka strolled in. “Oh, what did you make? I’m starving!”

Aika rolled her eyes. “When are you not?”

Making an indignant noise, Sokka helped himself to the food. “What is this?”

“A sandwich,” she deadpanned. Zuko chuckled silently next to her, taking a bite out of his own lunch. He had stocked up on some roast duck and Fire gummies. He really loved that thing that Aika did to keep all the food fresh.

The water tribe boy sniffed at the bread, “But what’s inside?”

“It's called peanut butter and jelly.”

He blinked. “You can make butter out of nuts?”

She raised an eyebrow. “I’m about to make butter out of you.”

“Oh har har!” he mocked. “No, seriously, what is this stuff?”

“Eat it or don’t, either way, shut up.” She worded it as a polite request, but her eyes were hard as steel.

He took a bite and she truly believed his eyeballs would explode from their sockets. “Oh spirits! This is amazing! Where did you get this? Do you have more?”

She rolled her eyes but refrained from answering. Then Aang, Katara and Toph walked in and he immediately regaled them with a tale of his newfound discovery of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Soon, they all wanted one and were begging the older girl to make it. “Oh alright. But you can’t request these often. I only have a jar of peanut butter and jelly each.”

It was a big hit. Zuko took a small bite of hers and decided that he much preferred savoury foods. That was fine by her. One less person to steal her sweet treats.

With a mouth full of peanut butter, Aang asked, “So, Zuko, when are we going to train? I practised the breathing exercises.”

“When I finish eating we can start,” the prince responded, popping another Fire Gummy into his mouth. The lunch of champions.

Aang was not getting a very good handle on firebending. Frankly, after what he had almost done to Katara the last time he had tried, plus his lousy experience with his last firebending teacher, he just wasn’t confident or emotional enough. Unfortunately, firebending was something you had to be confident doing, otherwise you couldn’t muster up the energy to do it. And the most common method of firebending fed off emotions such as anger and hatred to be powerful, emotions that went against everything Aang knew as an airbender.

After the fourth failed attempt at producing a flame from his fist, Aang dropped his head, downcast. “Maybe I just can’t firebend.”

Zuko shook his head, “No, that’s not it.” He caught movement from the corner of his eye and saw Aika and Katara practising their bending, while Toph and Sokka watched the Avatar’s practice. Well, ‘watching’ was a strong word for Toph. She was more eating dumplings and chuckling under her breath when Aang couldn’t ‘fire up’, as she put it. Thinking about it, the prince said, “I think you may need to learn a different way though.”

The Avatar’s brow scrunched. “Huh?”

“Recently, I found out that I learned the way that has been cultivated by a hundred years of war. It’s rigid, inflexible and feeds of anger and rage to fuel it. Aika obviously has her own way, with her energy, and I’m slowly picking up more and more from her, but I think you need to learn something in the middle.” He brought his finger to his chin, thinking.

“How about the original firebenders, Sparky?” Toph called out. That caught the water and energy benders’ attention and they focused on the two as well.

“What?”

Getting up, the blind girl came over, and everyone else followed, all curious as to what she was going on about. “You're gonna need to learn to draw your firebending from a different source. I recommend the original source.”

Zuko sighed, “That’s going to be difficult, Toph. The original firebenders were the dragons, and they're extinct."

That tiny revelation surprised Aang. “What do you mean? Roku had a dragon, and there were plenty of dragons when I was a kid.”

Ashamed on behalf of his people, Zuko muttered, “The Fire Nation hunted them for sport, all the way to extinction… But maybe there's another way.” He walks toward a fountain. “The first people to learn from the dragons were the ancient Sun Warriors. We might be able to find something in their ruins that’ll help.” Aang hoped it did, otherwise, they were all screwed.

Katara refused to allow Aang and Zuko to go on their own but neither of them thought it would be a good idea to take a waterbender into the ruins of an ancient firebending civilization. Aang said something about how it felt ‘wrong’. So that was how Aika was dragged along for the ride. She didn’t really mind, but she grumbled the entire way on principle. Aang tried to convince her that it wouldn’t be that bad, but Zuko didn’t bother. Somehow, he could tell she was acting, which just made her grumble more. 

The ruins of the ancient Sun Warrior city kind of reminded her of ancient Mayan temples in South America or the ziggurats of Mesopotamia mixed with the Temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Having been to both the former and the latter, she wasn’t as impressed as Aang and Zuko. The structures were beautiful, but nothing to really write home about. She much preferred ancient Western European ruins and architecture, like Pompeii, the Parthenon, and the Colosseum. Not that she would ever see those places again.

After Zuko and Aang triggered a couple of booby traps and almost killed themselves, Aika decided to walk ahead of them, casting stasis charms every few metres to ensure that even if they did trip something, it wouldn’t activate and kill them. Eventually, they arrived at the centre of the city, where a golden gate locked them out with a celestial calendar. Sitting on a nearby stone, she supposed she would let Aang and Zuko figure this one out since this trip was meant to be for them. She was tagging along for grins, and to give Katara peace of mind. 

She tried not to laugh when the two performed the ‘Dancing Dragon’, continuing to let them think it was a Firebending form, instead of a really cute dance. While they puzzled over the mystery of the egg that appeared out of the ground, Aika went to take a look around outside (she knew where this was headed and didn’t really feel like trying to get slime out of her hair). When the doors slammed shut and the glue-like green goop started seeping from the cracks between the stones, she hurried up to the top of the vault where the two were stuck to the grate. 

They looked hilarious pushed up against the bars with no way out, so she laughed. Hard. “I wish I had my camera!” she managed to get out between cackles.

“Aika!” Aang whined. “Get us out of here.”

Seeing the perfect opportunity, she grinned slyly, “What do I get in return?” She twirled her wand in her fingers teasingly.

“I’ll give you a foot rub,” Zuko offered. 

“Two and you got a deal.”

“Deal. Now get us out of here.”

With an incredibly dramatic sigh, she said, “Oh alright.” She vanished the bars and levitated them out, and then scrunched her nose disgustedly. Another couple of flicks and they were clean again and a smile was on her face. As she stowed her wand back in her sleeve, she looked at Aang and Zuko, both of whom were sporting incredibly shocked expressions, looking at something behind her. “What?” She turned to find the Sun Warriors standing in a semi-circle behind her, spears pointing in their direction. “Oh.”

The Sun warrior chief, she assumed since he was decked out in a more jazzy outfit, stepped forward and knelt down on one knee in front of Aika, head down in respect. The rest of the Warriors followed suit behind him. “An energy-bender. Our tribe's ancient stories mention energy-benders, we thought they no longer existed. We are truly humbled to be in your presence, Great Lady.”

Said energy-bender drew herself up proudly and smiled happily. “Well, at least someone knows how to treat a woman!” She heard a sigh of exasperation from her husband and considered glaring at him, but didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. “Rise, Warriors!” she called dramatically. When they did, she could see their eyes full of wonder as they gazed at her. 

Not liking the attention these men were giving his wife, Zuko stepped forward and wound his arm around her waist, pulling her against him possessively, staking his claim. He immediately saw a couple of their faces drop slightly and narrowed his eyes in on them. In his princely fashion, he announced, “Greetings. I assume you are the Sun Warriors?”

“You assume correctly,” the Chief stated. “Who are you and what were you doing trying to steal our sunstone?” They explained the situation with Aang and how he needed to find a teacher that met in the middle between Aika’s energy-firebending and Zuko’s Fire Nation forms and the Chief nodded. “If you wish to learn the ways of the Sun, you must learn them from the masters, Ran and Shaw.”

“Ran and Shaw? There are two of them?” Aang interjected.

The chief walked toward them and looked at Aang. “When you present yourself to them, they will examine you.” He turned to look at Zuko. “They'll read your hearts, your souls, and your ancestry. If they deem you worthy, they'll teach you. If they don't, you'll be destroyed on the spot.”

They were taken to another part of the city, where the buildings looked… more liveable than the rest. On the way, the Chief entertained them, or rather Aika, with an account of the Sun Warrior’s history, ancestry and their great ways of bending. He was obviously trying to impress her. Similarly, the other Warriors kept performing unnecessary feats of fire bending as a way of showing off their skills and prowess. Zuko kept a firm hold on his wife and at one point, even brought up her left hand to give it a light kiss, showing off her dragon and red diamond ring. Internally, she rolled her eyes. Morgana, men could be Neanderthals. But she let him do it because it wasn’t hurting her. She was still getting her foot rub later.

They were taken to a room where Sun Warriors sat down in many arcs, in front of the great pit of fire. Aang, Zuko, Aika and the Sun Warrior chief remain standing. “If you're going to see the masters, you must bring them a piece of the Eternal Flame. This fire is the very first one.” He raised his hands to his head and turned back at Zuko and Aang. “It was given to man by the dragons. We have kept it going for thousands of years.”

Surprised, Zuko breathed out, “I don't believe it.”

The Chief commanded, “You will each take a piece of it to the masters, to show your commitment to the sacred art of firebending.”

Unsure, Aang placed his palm on his neck. “Umm, Mister Sun Chief Sir, yeah, I'm not a firebender yet.” He pointed to Zuko. “Couldn't my friend here carry my fire for me?”

“Hey, this isn’t my journey, buddy,” the prince said, holding his hands up. “I’m not the one who can’t produce a flame.”

The Chief of the Sun Warrior scrutinized the Fire Nation Prince for a few moments before saying, “You shall complete this journey as well.” He turned to Aang. “This ritual illustrates the essence of Sun Warrior philosophy.” He split the Eternal Flame in two and grabbed two pieces of fire, handing one to Zuko. “You must maintain a constant heat. The flame will go out if you make it too small.” He held out a small flame to Aang, who cringed. “Make it too big, and you might lose control.”

“I'm sorry, I'm just a little nervous,” the Avatar mumbled as he reached out to take the offered flame in his hand. His expression changed to a relieved one. “It's like a little heartbeat.”

“I’ve told you before that fire is life, Aang,” Aika reminded him, startling the Sun Warrior Chief. “It’s warmth and food and knowledge and light. Without fire, the civilisations as you know them today or even a hundred years ago would never exist.” Aang nodded solemnly at his sister and she smiled. “Now, I assume that they would need to take that somewhere?”

Clearing his throat, the Chief pointed at the top of a mountain. “You will take your flames up there. The cave of the masters is beneath that rock.”

The two nodded and began on their journey, Aika staying behind with the Sun Warriors. “You guys better have a quicker way of getting up there than trekking in the forest on the side of the mountain?”

The Warriors chuckled and one of them meandered up to her, “Yes, Great Lady. We do.” He bowed and gestured for her to follow the Chief. 

She felt like she was waiting forever for her two loveable idiots on the top of the mountain. In the meantime, Aika was once again subjected to great tales of the Sun Warriors and their great heroes. Honestly, she could have probably conjured another daybed and taken a nice nap in the afternoon sun if they left her alone. Sooner or later, emphasis on the later, Zuko and Aang climbed the final steps to the top.

After some not so reassuring words from the Sun Warriors, the ritual began. She watched from the outskirts of the temple courtyard, not wanting to interrupt. The chanters began to play the music, sitting down and beating their drums in a synchronized rhythm. Other Sun Warriors held a fire circle in their crouched positions. Zuko and Aang walked toward the stairs in the middle of the courtyard, while on the other side of the circle, the Warriors alternately rose and bowed. The Chief and the other two Warriors stepped aside to let Zuko and Aang pass.

The Fire Prince and the Avatar looked at each other and took a deep breath before climbing. Aang looked back, catching sight of his sister's encouraging smile and continued forward. When they reached the top of the steps, Aika had to squint as the setting sun shone behind them, darkening their figures to silhouettes. She conjured some sunglasses so she could see them a bit better without the sun blinding her. The music stopped playing as soon as they reached the top. A warrior took a deep breath and blew a horn. The sound from the horn sent a flock of birds scattering. The sides of the mountain trembled and Aang, as an earthbender, placed his hand down on the ground to steady himself. Unfortunately, that also meant extinguishing his flame. Watching the two at the top of the stairs engage in a sort of mini argument, Aika pinched the bridge of her nose under her glasses. “Oh Merlin,” she mumbled. “Some days, it’s a miracle they don’t die.”

Two dragons, one blue and one red emerged from either side of the mountain, circling the two on the bridge. “Oh, here it comes. Any moment now. Dinner for the masters.” Not appreciating that comment about her husband and brother, Aika discreetly cast a strong stinging hex at the man. “Ow!” he yelped, rubbing his butt.

“Quiet, Ham Ghao!” the Chief admonished. Aika snickered.

It was the red dragon that first let out a breath of fire at the two guys, the blue dragon following a few seconds later. She watched as they were engulfed by a multi-coloured flame vortex. After a minute or so, the vortex slowly dissipated and the dragons curled their bodies, flew up and circled one time. They were about to fly into their caves when the mystical creatures felt something different in the air, something other than fire. Their eyes narrowed in on a small shape on the ground with the rest of their worshippers. That one was different. They flew down, curious.

Everyone stared, bug-eyed and speechless when the two dragons, Ran and Shaw, flew down and landed in the courtyard in front of the energy-bender. Aika was similarly surprised but happy for the opportunity to check out these dragons up close. They looked like the Chinese Longback dragons from her world and reminded her of serpents.

Feeling the energy inside these beasts, she bowed to the two ancient dragons in respect. _§Greetings, great dragons. I am Aika, an energy-bender. I am honoured to be in your presence.§_ To everyone else, she sounded ridiculous, hissing out vague noises, but the two dragons pulled their head back the tiniest bit. Jaws dropped when the two dragons hissed and growled back at the girl.

_§I am Ran,§_ said the red dragon.

_§I am Shaw,§_ confirmed the blue.

_§We are honoured to meet an energy-bender. How is it you can communicate with us? We have not known anyone to speak our language before?§_

_§I speak the ancient language of serpents and I presume dragons bear similar enough traits that we can communicate as well. I must ask, how did you judge my mate and brother?§_ Husband didn't translate in Parseltongue so 'mate' was the closest thing she could say.

The blue one let out a huff that was similar to a laugh. _§They shall be powerful firebenders. We sensed balance in the small one. Power, passion and much fire resides in the soul of the larger one. Tell us, young one, which one are you mated to?§_

She smiled and looked at Zuko, who was standing behind the dragon, looking a mix of awed and apprehensive. _§The larger one.§_

The two dragons seemed to share a glance before Shaw took off and flew away into a cave. Ran pierced her with a giant eyeball. _§Tell me, young one, does your mate take care of you?§_

_§Always,§_ she confirmed.

The dragon nodded its great head, just as Shaw came back out and landed in front of her once more, this time, with a red coloured egg clutched between his teeth gently. _§Call your mate forth,§_ Ran instructed. 

Aika motioned for Zuko to come to her and he ran over, checking her once over for any signs of fire damage from the dragons since he couldn’t see her very well from where he had been standing. “Are you okay? Nothing burnt, nothing scratched?” he fired off.

“I’m fine Zuko,” she smiled, placing a hand on his chest. He calmed down and turned to face the dragons again, holding her close, wary and watching for any signs of danger. _§My mate, Zuko,§_ she introduced him to the dragons. Since names didn’t really translate into parseltongue, he figured out that she was talking about him. 

The dragons eyeballed him once again and Shaw gently placed the egg down in front of Zuko. _§Tell him to place his hand on the egg.§_ Aika relayed the information and slowly, Zuko knelt down and placed his hand on the shell. A surge of fire erupted from his hands without him bringing it forth and bathed the red shell with his orange flames. _§It is done. He has imprinted on the egg. The dragon within shall be his companion. Take care of our young one, and may the spirits be with you and your mate, young energy-bender.§_ The two giant majestic dragons took off and circled once more before retreating to their caves.

“What just happened?” Zuko asked, confused.

Aika bit her lip. “Well… You got yourself a dragon egg.”

“Huh?” he queried. Such eloquence from a Prince.

“Congrats, babe! You’re a dragon daddy!” she exclaimed excitedly.

Some of the Sun Warriors fainted.

“So you guys went to learn about Firebending techniques and came back with a few dance moves and a dragon egg?”

Sokka’s sarcastic quip had Aika laughing. Toph joined in, chuckling and Katara giggled. The Fire Prince and the Avatar had just finished showing off the ‘Dancing Dragon’ form and had said that in doing this, they had triggered a mechanism that revealed the dragon egg. The Chief had requested (threatened politely) if they would not tell anyone else of their continued existence, so they had made up the bogus story of how they managed to find the egg.

“It's not a dance. It's a firebending form,” Aang insisted.

Sokka moved his fingers in a dancing manner. “We'll just tap-dance our way to victory over the Fire Lord.”

The Avatar walked toward Sokka. “It's a sacred form that happens to be thousands of years old!”

Katara teased, “Oh, yeah? What's your little form called?”

Embarrassed, Zuko replied, “The Dancing Dragon.” While everyone erupted into a cacophony of laughter again, Zuko and Aang both cringed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm almost there! I've confirmed that there will be 30 chapters in this fic! :D


	28. Raiders and Players

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your kudos and comments! I really enjoy reading your thoughts and really appreciate your words of praise. I am planning on going back over this fic and fleshing out some more detail and putting in some more character development when I can. I have so many plot bunnies running around my head that it's hard to contain them all or know which direction to take the fic while also staying true to the original plot. I just feel that magic, while amazing and beautiful, is so fucking powerful that it's hard not to just write that the main character ends the war there and then by simply stunning Ozai and tossing him in prison. I have started doing it from chapter 2 and will progress from there :)

Zuko and Sokka disappeared for a few days. They said ‘fishing trip’ but considering they came back with a Fire Nation airship, a couple prisoners of war and no fish to speak of, she highly doubted it.

When the airship flew close and the two boys saw Aika staring at the ship, arms folded with her wand in her hand and looking like she didn’t have a care in the world, they almost told Chit Sang to turn the ship around. Her casual stance and seemingly happy and charming manner scared the spirits out of them. There was no way she could be that calm. Resigned to their fates, the two trudged slowly and warily down the gangplank like it was the last walk they would ever take. Then Hakoda stepped off the airship behind them and her eyes narrowed further, but she didn’t lose her polite demeanour. 

Katara, Toph and Aang stood silently to the side, along with Teo, The Duke and Haru. Although Katara was thrilled to see her father, she knew better than to draw attention to herself when Aika was like this. Suki jumped off the ship, her smile quickly turning into a frown when she felt the apprehension in the air. Katara gestured for the girl to come over to stand with them and she moved there silently. “What’s going on?” she whispered to them.

“Shh! Aika’s gonna blow and we don’t want her attention when she does,” Katara mumbled quietly back.

Like naughty children caught with their hand in the cookie jar, Sokka and Zuko stood in front of her, Hakoda behind them and Chit Sang standing off to the side. However, while Sokka looked down in embarrassment as if he were expecting a motherly lecture, Zuko looked straight at her with an apologetic expression. “Sorry, Aika,” they practically sang in synchronisation. 

“Your stupidity knows no bounds, does it?” Her tone was light and airy but the harsh glint in her eyes betrayed her anger.

Hakoda decided to be a bit more stupid. “Hey! You can’t talk to my son like that!”

Her piercing glare flicked over to the man and he felt pinned under the harsh gaze. “You already have a ferret time slot pencilled into your calendar for your dumb plan to surrender to the Fire Nation. You wanna add a different animal to that? Maybe a dung beetle?” His eyes widened at the mention of ‘ferret time’. He shook his head slightly. He didn’t want to know what it was like to be an insect.

“Look, Aika, this is something I had to do,” Sokka explained. “I had to get my dad out. You understand that right? Wouldn’t you do that for your father?”

Dumb question. Zuko winced. Her face fell flat, emotionless. “No, Sokka. I wouldn’t. Because my father never got a chance to go to prison.” That he was killed was heavily implied and the teen boy winced when he realised it. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair in exasperation. “Sokka, think things through. Because no matter my own feelings about Hakoda,” she sent another glare at the man before turning back to Sokka, “you’re my brother and I love you. I would do almost anything you asked, including busting your father out of jail.” Sokka gulped. Yeah… She probably could have done it before anyone realised his father was gone. And Suki. And… well, everyone. He looked down in shame; he was the plan guy but he hadn’t come up with a very good plan.

“And you,” she rounded on her husband. “You better get inside to the egg. It’s about to hatch. You neglected your responsibilities and if you were a day late, you would have missed it.” The Fire Prince’s eyes widened and he rushed into the tent for the egg. They both knew how imperative it was he be there for the dragon’s hatching. It had to be bathed in familiar fire, a fire that it had felt while it was in the egg (either it’s parent’s or Zuko’s) in the first ten minutes of its hatching. If he had missed it, the dragon would be confused and vulnerable and it would never grow properly.

Awkward silence reigned in the Temple after the Fire Prince rushed away. “So… what’s our punishment?” Sokka questioned warily. Katara and Suki both facepalmed and Toph grinned in glee at the teen boy’s misfortunes. Aang shifted from foot to foot with nervous energy.

She grinned deviously. “Since you wanted to get your father back so badly, I figured you both now can spend some quality time together.” Father and son looked at each other, surprised. She flicked her wand and they were both transformed into ferrets. Funnily enough, they looked very similar. Everyone except for Katara, Toph and Aang spluttered at the newly transformed animals. She looked down at the tiny mammals. “Oh, and you better run. I want to play chase.” She changed into her tiger form and Sokka-ferret squeaked before dashing away, Hakoda-ferret right on his tail. Tora roared and waited a bit before she ran after them. She wouldn’t kill them, not this time. She just wanted to scare them both shitless.

They were woken by explosions. Aika gasped as she sat up in bed, Zuko immediately up by her side, his newly hatched tiny red and gold dragon soundly asleep and curled around his neck like a scarf. They scrambled up and out, almost colliding with Sokka and Katara along the way as they madly dashed outside into the main Temple area, Toph and Aang already heading out of the tent ahead of them. Amid the scrambling and the mad dashes as debris started falling from the ceiling, she saw the bow of a Fire Nation airship, which launched another bomb. It sailed through the air and crashed into a nearby bridge. Quickly dismantling the tent and stowing it in her charmed bag, she scanned the room for any sign of injuries but found none serious enough that needed immediate attention.

Aang ran over to the others’ campsite, Aika following close behind, and he used airbending to force the large, ceiling-high metal doors surrounding their site to close. Several bombs continued to assault the temple. A portion of the ceiling roof cracked and crumbled, causing everyone looking up, including Katara who stood directly beneath it. The girl looked up alarmed, only to be pushed out of the way by Zuko at the last second. They rolled across the floor and landed several feet from the hunk of ceiling debris, encasing them in a dust cloud.

“You guys okay?” Aika called.

“Yeah, we’re fine!” Zuko replied back calmly, but he coughed a few times on the dust.

Katara growled angrily, “What were you doing?”

“Keeping rocks from crushing you,” he responded as if he were talking to someone dense.

That seemed to make her angrier. “Okay, I’m not crushed, you can let me go now.”

The prince rolled his amber eyes and let the girl go and she got up and stomped away angrily. In amusement, he shouted back, “You’re welcome, by the way!” The angry grunt and growl he got in return made him chuckle. To him, Katara sometimes acted like a cat-owl which stupidly thought it was a tiger-bear. He looked up and saw the humour in his wife’s eyes as she reached out a hand to help him up. As he grabbed her hand and allowed himself to be pulled up, he thought that he knew a tiger, and Katara had nothing on her. 

“What’s funny?”

“I’ll tell you later, tigress. Now seems like a bad time,” he said, motioning to indicate the walls where the sounds of falling bombs and explosions echoed throughout the room.

“You’re lucky that the little guy didn’t wake or get hurt,” she said, scratching the scales of the little red dragon.

He rolled his eyes. “He’s a dragon, not a squirrel-monkey. He’s got thick scales and he’s not waking up for at least another week.” Newly hatched dragons took about a week to a week and a half to wake from their hatching sleep and during this time they could sleep through an apocalypse; they had to be bathed in fire once every twenty-four hours during this period as well, so Zuko kept him close, as he was the only person who could do so.

“Still,” she cast several protection charms over the little dragon, along with a long-lasting warming charm and a silencing ward around his little ears, “There, now he’ll be safe when you do crazy shit.”

He rolled his eyes again and deadpanned, “He’s a dragon, princess. You’re fussing over and babying a dragon.”

“He’s such a cute dragon.” She looked up and grinned mischievously. “Unlike his master.” He glared and she winked. He shook his head in exasperation. Bombs falling around them, the Fire Nation hunting them and his wife wanted to tease. Unbelievable.

“Come on! We can get out through here!” Toph yelled, grabbing their attention. She was pointing to a section of the wall where everyone could see a hole had been bored through. It seemed that Toph and Haru had created the exit way using earthbending. Everyone began entering the passageway but Aang stayed behind, trying to get Appa to leave with him by pulling on the bison's reins. Appa wouldn’t budge, hating the idea of going back underground.

Noticing that not everyone was heading to the tunnel, the Avatar spotted Zuko standing on the ledge, facing the airships, Aika by his side. “What are you guys doing?”

Zuko, in a moment of selfless bravery, ran off towards the sound of explosions, calling back, “Go ahead! I'll hold them off. I think this is a family visit.” He was sure Azula was here somewhere and he was determined to face his sister before anyone else got hurt.

Aika ran after him, “Zuko! No! Wait, you idiot!” Oh, she was gonna kill him. Why did the man insist on making stupid decisions? Like, sometimes she wondered if he made a conscious effort to decide on the dumbest course of action. 

“Come on! We've gotta get out of here!” Sokka cried to Aang and Katara. Aang, Katara, and Sokka began pulling on Appa’s reins together in an attempt to move the bison, while the doors of the building continued to be destroyed. Debris continued to fall to the ground as Zuko raced toward the doors and leapt over to the other side just as another piece of the door fell and shattered. Aika chased after him as he ran toward the airships. 

Another bomb was launched and landed several feet before him where it detonated. Thick grey plumes of smoke rose and Aika’s heart stuttered in her chest; after a brief moment, Zuko emerged from the smoke cover, unharmed. He firebended a large blast from his hand, hitting the side of the airship. His brief pause in running allowed Aika to catch up to him, her flames joining his. The combined effort burned a very large hole in the side, and the flames kept burning, the firebenders on board unable to put them out. 

As they stared at the destruction they wrought, a podium-like device suddenly rose in front of them; standing atop it was Azula, an evil, maniacal grin on her face.

“What are you doing here?” Zuko demanded. Knowing that confronting his sister once again wasn’t easy for him (he still loved her because despite everything she was family), Aika placed her hand in his for support, intertwining their fingers.

Smiling, Azula casually mentioned, “You mean it's not obvious yet? I am about to celebrate becoming an only child!” The crazy princess kicked a large blast of flame toward her brother. Aika batted the flames away, her eyebrows raised. Azula blinked, seeming to notice that Aika stood beside him for the first time. Several more blasts were sent their way, but both Zuko and Aika took turns redirecting the blue flames away from them. With surprised eyes, Azula spat at her brother, “How are you doing that?!”

Zuko smirked smugly at his sister. “I may not have been as skilled as you when we were children, but I'm sure as shit not weak, Azula. I grew into my power.” 

That angered Azula, her face twisting into a picture of rage as she attacked him with blue fire. Aika made to shield him, but he let her hand go and pushed her out of the way, “No, this one of between my sister and I.” The firefight between the siblings only lasted a few minutes as more and more of the temple caught fire around them. Between the bombing assault and the fire, the temple began to fall apart.

Casting a shield around herself to protect against falling debris, she yelled, “Zuko, time to go!”

With one last blast against his sister, he ran toward her and grabbed her hand, pulling her toward one of the nearby airships. As they jumped toward the ship, he sent several more shots toward Azula, but failed to hit her. They fell down into the misty floor below, landing hard on top of another airship. The Fire Prince immediately asked, “You okay, Tora?”

She groaned, “Yeah, I’m good. Next time, let me in on your crazy plans because I _can_ cast cushioning charms.” 

He chuckled despite the situation and pulled her up. Just their luck, the airship began to rise back up towards the top of the temple. They could just make out the battle above them through the mist as Appa flew out of the temple, a shield of rock in front of him. Azula tried to bring the bison down, only for the shield to absorb the blasts. Just as Appa escaped and the shield disintegrated, the airship reached Azula’s level and she spotted them, grinning maniacally once again. 

Zuko and Azula faced off, Aika stepping back once more to let him. Zuko made the first move, jumping toward Azula, who sent columns of fire at him, which he responded to with more blasts. The two attacked each other several times. The two siblings were more or less evenly matched, with Azula’s precise skill and Zuko’s power. Aika watched as their fight took them closer and closer to the edge of the airship, her wand out and ready to catch her husband. The siblings hit each other with fire-packed punches, launching them both off the airship. Aika caught him in a levitation spell and brought him back towards her while Azula fell into the ravine below.

Zuko watched with wide eyes, “She's... not gonna make it…” Azula used her firebending to propel herself toward the wall, stopping her fall with her hairpin, saving herself. He scoffed, “Of course she did.”

“Aika! Zuko! Come on!” someone yelled from above them. They looked up to see Katara, Sokka, Toph and Aang sitting on Appa and waving at them frantically. Aika grabbed hold of Zuko and apparated them up onto Appa.

As the bison flew away, Zuko looked back towards where his sister stood, a look of surprise on her face.

“Wow, camping... it really seems like old times again, doesn't it?” Aang commented.

They were all sitting around on the sofa of the tent with cups of tea in hand, as utensils and dishes flew around cleaning themselves in the kitchen after dinner. When Sokka had sullenly told Aika and Zuko that their father had once again mentioned that everyone split up, Aika had inwardly seethed once again at the Chief of the Southern Water tribe for his decisions that kept hurting his children. She had no idea how to help either, seeing that it was Hakoda’s lack of trust in her and Zuko that led him to make these choices, and she hated not being able to help her brother and sister. It wasn’t their fault, but the Chief made it seem like it was, in a roundabout way.

Trying to lighten the sombre mood slightly, Zuko said jokingly, “If you really want it to feel like old times, I could chase you around a while and try to capture you.” He smiled as the rest of the group laughed, except for Katara.

“Oh ha ha,” she mocked.

Holding up his cup, Sokka announced, “To Zuko! Who knew after all those times he tried to snuff us out, today he'd be our hero?”

Everybody except Katara held up their cups and cheered, “Hear! Hear!” Aang nudged Zuko with his elbow, before Toph lightly punched him. Aika rolled her eyes.

Smiling, the Fire Prince uttered, “I'm touched.” Suddenly, he stopped smiling. “I don't deserve this.” Aika frowned.

Katara remarked angrily, “Yeah, no kidding,” as she got up and walked out of the tent in a huff.

“Hey!” the energy-bender yelled at the girl who was chucking a temper tantrum. Zuko just put a hand on her arm and got up to follow the waterbender.

“What’s with her?” Sokka asked, looking at Aika for an explanation. Everyone else looked her way too.

The eldest girl sighed, “Honestly, Sokka, I think your sister is once again directing all her anger caused by the Fire Nation onto the one person in our group that is actually from there. She can’t take her anger out on the people she really wants to hurt, so she is taking it out on Zuko. It’s called displacement.”

“Huh, that’s interesting. Can we have a seeing session, Aika?” Toph demanded more than asked.

She chuckled, “Sure. What do you want to see this time?”

“Oh show her a rainbow!”

“Or the stars!”

“Or the-”

“Stop!” Toph shouted. “Guys, I got this. I want you to show me your old world, Aika. I want you to show me more energy-bending.”

“Old world?” Suki questioned. They had given her the rundown of Aika's energy-bending while they were back at the Western Air Temple, but they hadn’t told her that Aika came from another world altogether.

Sokka grinned, “Aika comes from another world, one where energy-benders are pretty common. We’ve seen things that come from your world, but can we actually see it too, Aika?” 

She nodded, “Yeah, actually I can. There’s a spell that will let me show you.” It was from Slytherin’s time before pensives were created, when they needed to show thoughts and memories for trials or to see another person’s perspective when they were doing experiments in magic. Pensives were based on it, the only real difference was that you didn’t get immersed in the memory, and it didn’t hold your memories indefinitely for you to call up one by one. With this spell, the more you copied your memory, the more it faded from your mind.

Grabbing a bowl of water, she pulled out about twenty silver strands from her mind and placed them in the bowl. The others stared wide-eyed and she incanted, “ _Ostende mihi memorias._ ” They all oohed and ahhed when a white flash encased the bowled and then, floating above it was a projection of her mother, a beautiful delicate woman with dark hair and eyes, with features closer to the Euroasian heritage that most people of this world seemed to have. It was strange seeing her own perspective of her mother from when she was a child. The woman seemed to glow like an angel as she smiled down at everyone. She blinked once against the emotions that threatened to overtake her. 

Her mother smiled gently, “You’re a witch, Aika, sweetheart.”

“A witch, mama?” a little girl’s voice sounded from nowhere, but everyone knew it was a young Aika. Everyone briefly glanced at Aika, trying to spot the similarities between the two of them.

Aika pulled Toph outside into the night air, not wanting to hear anymore. She couldn’t be too emotional when performing _legilimency_ with Toph anyway. If the earthbender felt something off about her energy, thank Merlin she didn’t bring it up. A few moments later, out of the corner of her eyes, she caught Katara stomping back into the tent, followed by Zuko a few minutes later. Whatever differences they had, they had yet to sort them out.

Zuko tossed and turned all night. Thank Agni that his wife was a heavy sleeper, otherwise, she would have killed him. After his little chat with Katara by the edge of the cliff last night - he could admit that it was probably stupid to follow someone angry at him to the edge of a cliff, but nevermind - he knew that he had to figure out what happened with her mother. So he resolved to ask Sokka about it, but he couldn’t barge into the kid’s room at a stupid time in the morning to demand what had happened to his dead mother. Not even he was that insensitive. 

But Zuko was not a patient man. When dawn finally came, he snuck out of bed, dressed and went outside to burn off the excess energy, but that didn’t help too much. He must have been out there for a while because Aika eventually stuck her head out of the tent and called him in for breakfast. Everyone else, except Katara, was gathered around the table in the kitchen getting their serving.

He hurried over to Sokka and pulled the kid away from the table, making him yelp. The rest of them looked at him curiously but didn’t comment. Zuko pulled the Water Tribe boy into the library alcove and asked, “Okay, listen, I know this may seem out of nowhere, but I want you to tell me what happened to your mother.”

Sokka was slightly taken aback. “What? Why would you want to know that?”

“Katara mentioned it before when we were imprisoned together in Ba Sing Se, and again last night when she was yelling at me. I think somehow she's connected her anger at that to her anger at me.”

“Aika said the same thing last night.” The teen looked down sadly, “It's not a day I like to remember... It was years ago… Many of the warriors had seen the black snow before and they knew what it meant: a Fire Nation raid. We were badly outnumbered, but somehow, we managed to drive them off. As quickly as they came, they just left. I was so relieved when it was over, but that's because I didn't know yet what had happened. I didn't know we had lost our mother.” As he told the Fire Prince the tale, Zuko never commented or said he was sorry or showed the pity that Sokka was used to receiving when he told anyone what had happened to their mother.

“Can you remember any details about the soldiers who raided your village? Like what the lead ship looked like?”

Frowning for a second, Sokka nodded and said slowly, “Yeah... sea ravens.” More confidently, he added, “The main ship had flags with sea ravens on them.”

Zuko nodded and grimaced, “The symbol of the Southern Raiders. Thanks, Sokka.” He hurried over to Katara’s door and knocked several times.

A few minutes later, the waterbender threw her door open angrily. “What? What do you want?”

“I know who killed your mother,” he announced. She reeled back in shock. “And I'm going to help you find him.” Her shock quickly turned to anger.

A few hours later, everyone was hanging outside, where Aang was feeding Appa some hay, Sokka fiddled around with a flower necklace, and Toph and Aika were learning a few cool fighting moves from Suki. Katara and Zuko approached the bison, Zuko carrying a sack slung over his shoulder. 

“I need to borrow Appa,” Katara claimed.

Aang replied, jokingly, “Why? Is it your turn to take a little field trip with Zuko?”

“Yes, it is.”

The airbender was slightly surprised. “Oh. What's going on?”

“We're going to find the man who took my mother from me.”

Sokka paused what he was doing and stood up, surprised. The three girls also overheard and paused what they were doing, walking over to the bison. “Sokka told me the story of what happened. I know who did it and I know how to find him,” Zuko disclosed. 

“Um ... and what exactly do you think this will accomplish?” The Avatar queried.

Katara shook her head in dismay. “Ugh, I knew you wouldn't understand.” She began to walk away.

“Wait! Stop! I do understand. You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?” The Avatar exclaimed emphatically waving his hands about.

“She needs this, Aang. This is about getting closure and justice,” insisted the firebender.

“I don't think so. I think it's about getting revenge.”

The waterbender stomped her foot like a child and shouted, “Fine, maybe it is! Maybe that's what I need! Maybe that's what he deserves!”

Aang went to speak again, but Aika placed a hand on his shoulder. “Aang, if this is what Katara needs, then this is what she needs.” He looked up at his older sister and seeing the look in her eyes, he conceded. She turned that piercing cyan blue gaze on Katara and the waterbender felt like fidgeting, but she held still. At that moment, Katara could have sworn to every spirit she knew that Aika was gazing straight into her soul. “However, Katara, remember that before you embark on a journey of revenge, you should dig two graves.”

The airbender nodded, “The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat viper. While you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself.”

“That's cute, but this isn't air temple preschool. It's the real world,” Zuko said condescendingly. He shouldn’t have opened his mouth. His wife’s glare promised retribution for his ill-timed comment. He winced inwardly. 

Without another word, Katara climbed up on the bison and Aang sighed, “Okay, Katara. This is a journey you need to take. You need to face this man. But when you do, please don't choose revenge. Let your anger out, and then let it go. Forgive him.”

She scoffed but didn’t respond to him. “You coming, Zuko?”

The Fire Prince nodded and went to step closer to Appa when his wife grabbed his arm. “You take care of her, okay?” she ordered as she recast the concealment charms over the little dragon wrapped around his neck. He nodded once to his wife and jumped up onto the back of the bison. The group all watched as Appa took off, hoping that Katara didn't lose herself to her anger.

"Aika, what do you think she'll choose?" Aang asked suddenly. It had been an hour since the waterbender and the Fire Prince had left and Aang had been jittery and worried ever since. Seeing her little brother so tense, she had offered to show him a few moves that she had taught Zuko with her energy-firebending. He was taking to them like a duck to water, said that they were similar moves to waterbending techniques. 

"I don't know, Aang. All I can hope is that she makes the right choice for her." She guided the young Avatar to a rock and sat down. He opted to stand in front of her. "When I found out my parents had been murdered I wanted revenge so badly. So so badly. It practically consumed my every thought for a while, I had come up with about a hundred different ways that I could kill them. It took me a very long time to realise that my thoughts of hatred and anger were turning me into the very monsters I wanted to destroy."

His eyes widened. "What happened?"

She shook her head and chuckled fondly. "No. My favourite teacher, his name was Professor Flitwick, he noticed the change in me. He took me aside after class one day and into his private duelling practice arena and cast a hex at me."

"A hex?"

"Yep," she confirmed, popping the 'p'. "We had a duel. It was pretty cool, it let me burn off some of the angry energy, he won of course. My teacher had realised I was a ticking time-bomb waiting to go off, and that wasn't a good thing in a school full of children and Death Eaters. Because if I had challenged my parents' murderers, they would not have cared if some innocent child got in the way. They would not have cared that I was a child. They would have easily killed me. Once I calmed down, we spoke for a long time and I realised how dark my thoughts were getting."

"How did you move on from wanting revenge?"

She laughed, "I never really did, Aang. I didn't kill them, and I still sometimes wish I had, but seeing them dead helped me move on, I guess. What I'm trying to say is everyone handles grief, pain and heartache differently. If Katara thinks that killing the man who murdered her mother is going to help, then we have to let her. She'll figure it out."

"But what if she does kill him?" he asked distressed, shifting from foot to foot and wringing his hands. "What do we do?"

Aika grabbed her brother's hands gently and held them in her own to calm him down. He closed his eyes and took a calming breath. While he did so, she turned her gaze to Sokka briefly, who was sitting nearby with Suki and Toph, his eyes narrowed on Aang and Aika. She shifted her focus back to Aang and looked deep into his eyes when he opened his own again. "We care for her and love her all the same."

He frowned for a second and then nodded earnestly.

They were gone for a day and when they got back, Katara was withdrawn. She didn't greet them or even look at them, just moved to sit on the edge of the cliff and look out onto the horizon. Zuko came over and told everyone what had happened. After a while, Aang, Aika and Zuko decided to approach her. At their footsteps, the girl opened her eyes sadly.

“Katara? Are you okay?” Aang asked.

“I'm doing fine.”

“Zuko told me what you did. Or what you didn't do, I guess. I'm proud of you.”

“I wanted to do it. I wanted to take out all my anger at him, but I couldn't. I don't know if it's because I'm too weak to do it or because I'm strong enough not to.”

Aang smiled softly, “You did the right thing. Forgiveness is the first step you have to take to begin healing.”

Katara rose from the edge of the cliff and spun slowly to face them all. Seeing Aika’s small encouraging smile, she returned it with a sad one of her own. The waterbender turned back to Aang, “But I didn't forgive him. I'll never forgive him.” Her smile brightened slightly when she glanced at Zuko and she walked up to him. “But I am ready to forgive you.” She gave him a light hug, which he returned awkwardly before the waterbender walked away, some of the heaviness gone from her step, like some of the weight of her burdens had been lifted from her shoulders.

“You were right about what Katara needed. Violence wasn't the answer,” Zuko spoke to the two beside him.

“It never is,” Aang affirmed.

Raising a brow, the Fire Prince scrutinised the airbender, “Then I have a question for you. What are you gonna do when you face my father?”

Aang’s eyes widened nervously.

Ember Island was a beautiful place, Aika could admit. It reminded her of Hawaii, with the balmy weather and the palm trees and the beaches. She would have to tell Zuko that she expected vacations here every chance they could get later after they won the war. 

Aika sat with Katara and Toph on the steps overlooking the courtyard where Aang and Zuko were practising firebending using synchronized fire blasts and creating sweeping arcs of fire that dissipated into the ground. They each raised an arm and leg, sending forth streams of fire, before leaning forward and creating another stream of fire. Aang and Zuko then stood upright, assuming a final fighting stance before closing their eyes, relaxing their postures, and taking a deep breath. The two guys bowed to one another before Aang stretched his arms and walked away. 

Zuko walked languidly over to Aika and sat next to her, grabbing a towel to wipe the sweat off his brow. He then turned and kissed the top of her head. She smiled and if she were in her tiger form, she would have purred in contentment. He gave the red and gold dragon a little pat and he made a small adorable rumbling sound, like a purr. 

The little dragon Druk as Zuko had decided to name him, had finally woken up the day before yesterday when they had first arrived here on the island. He was the most adorable thing Aika had ever seen, had taken his first steps and had yawned, breathing out a tiny lick of fire before snorting with smoke escaping his nostrils. While the baby dragon was clearly loyal to his master, hardly leaving his side when he was put down, he did seem to enjoy curling on Aika’s lap while Zuko was training with Aang, which is where he was now, lazily sleeping in the sun, enjoying being pet by Zuko and Aika.

Breaking the comfortable and relaxed air, Katara spoke, “Doesn't it seem kind of weird that we're hiding from the Fire Lord in his own house?”

“I told you, my father hasn't come here since our family was actually happy. And that was a long time ago. It's the last place anyone would think to look for us.” He suddenly realised what he had said and looked at his wife, “Not that you aren’t my family and I’m not happy with you…”

She rolled her eyes fondly and whispered, “Just shut up.” She kissed him softly to keep him from overreacting. Honestly, he was so cute sometimes. And his lack of shirt was making her have all kinds of thoughts that were inappropriate for mixed company. 

She was just about to suggest that they head back to the tent when suddenly, Suki and Sokka entered the courtyard. Sokka yelled, holding up a piece of paper, “You guys are not gonna believe this! There's a play about us.” Dear Morgana! Her brother had the worst timing!

Suki explained, “We were just in town and we found this poster!” Sokka held the poster up higher to the rest of the team. It depicted Katara, Aang, and Sokka with Zuko's scarred face in the background.

“What? How is that possible?” Katara mumbled.

Clearly excited, Sokka said, “Listen to this…” He turned the poster toward himself and read, “The Boy in the Iceberg is a new production from acclaimed playwright Pu-on Tim, who scoured the globe gathering information on the Avatar, from the icy South Pole to the heart of Ba Sing Se. His sources include singing nomads, pirates, prisoners of war, and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage.”

“Brought to you by the critically acclaimed Ember Island Players,” added Suki.

Zuko shuddered, recalling a particularly bad memory, “Ugh! My mother used to take us to see them. They butchered Love amongst the Dragons every year!” With his shout, Druk raised his head in alarm, but a calming pat from Zuko sent the dragon back to sleep again.

“Sokka, do you really think it's a good idea to attend a play about ourselves?” Katara questioned.

The boy just smiled and claimed persuasively, “Come on, a day at the theatre? This is the kind of wacky time-wasting nonsense I've been missing!” He held up the poster anxiously and smiled sheepishly; Katara looked away, appearing nonplussed. But nevertheless, the Water Tribe boy got his way.

Which was why, that night, they shuffled into the theatre, unfortunately getting balcony seats for the show. Zuko and Aika sat down first, followed by Toph, Katara and then Aang, the airbender wearing a hat to cover his head tattoos. Sokka and Suki sat in the row behind the rest of Team Avatar.

Toph groaned, “Why are we sitting in the nosebleed section? My feet can't see a thing from up here!”

“Don't worry, I'll tell your feet what's happening,” the waterbender next to her muttered.

Just then, the curtain on the stage rose to reveal a set representing the South Pole seas. Two actors appeared to be in a boat, rowing along. Clearly these were meant to be Katara and Sokka. The real Sokka and Katara looked thrilled to see themselves on stage, with Sokka grabbing his sister’s shoulder, pointing at her, himself, and the stage excitedly. 

Actress Katara, an older, more robust woman wearing Water Tribe garments, sighed, “Sokka, my only brother! We constantly roam these icy South Pole seas, and yet never do we find anything fulfilling!”

Actor Sokka, a thin, lanky man, replied, “All I want is a full feeling in my stomach! I'm starving!”

As the actors kept performing, Katara and Sokka’s faces both fell at the inaccurate portrayal and Sokka even went so far as to whisper-yell to the group, “This is pathetic! My jokes are way funnier than this!”

Toph was laughing. “I think he's got you pegged!”

Poor Katara was angered by the tearfully hopeful speech given by her character. “Well, that's just silly. I don't sound like that.”

“Oh, man! This writer's a genius!” Toph mentioned elatedly. Aika was having a difficult time not laughing and ended up covering her mouth and turning away from the stage towards Zuko to snicker silently. Unfortunately, Toph noticed, “Even Aika agrees! This is brilliant!”

Aang cried indignantly, “Wait, is that a woman playing me?!” As the play went on, everyone was increasingly disappointed in the way they were portrayed onstage. “I don’t do that! And I am not a woman!”

Toph laughed and turned to face Aang, “Oh, they nailed you, Twinkle Toes!”

At this point, between the horrible acting, the creative licence of the director, and Toph’s running commentary, Aika had her face buried in Zuko’s chest to suppress the loud laughter, her shoulders shaking slightly. He lightly rubbed her back, unsure if he should do anything to try and calm her, or just leave her as she was. It wasn’t like she was crying. Yet. Unfortunately, it was time for Actor Zuko to make his grand entrance with Actor Iroh. He glared at the stage, “They make me look totally stiff and humourless.”

Aika raised her head from his chest, having calmed down significantly and said, “You were stiff and humourless back then, love.” She kissed his cheek. “I’m glad you grew out of it.” He rolled his eyes.

“Do you two mind? Sensitive ears nearby,” Toph butted in.

The energy-bender rolled her eyes, and playfully threatened, “Just watch the play or I’ll make it ten times worse...”

Toph quickly turned her attention back to the stage, listening in for the next lines. The more second-hand embarrassment the team got from their onstage characters, the more Toph laughed. But it was about halfway through the first act when Suki realised, “Aika, you aren’t in the play. Even I was, but you aren’t.” Aika just shrugged. She figured that because she kept using disguises in Earth Kingdom cities like Omashu and Ba Sing Se, and sometimes used notice-me-not charms when they were out in public because of her hair colour, the director’s ‘informants’ could tell him much about her and so she wasn’t included. Not that she minded.

It was in the intermission after the riveting scene of Aang defeating the Fire Navy at the Northern Water tribe, during which Actress Aang slipped and fell in her Koizilla costume, that Zuko said, “So far, this intermission is the best part of the play.”

As everyone complained about their character’s portrayal, Toph observed, “Listen friends, it's obvious that the playwright did his research. I know it must hurt, but what you're seeing up there on that stage is the truth.” The team grumbled, unable to accept it. Aika comforted her husband by squeezing his hand, and suddenly, Zuko didn’t give a damn how he was portrayed. It was just a stupid play.

During the second act, Toph was super excited about her actor’s entrance. She grabbed onto the railing happily and whispered, “This must be where I come in! Here it comes…” 

Onstage, a man popped up from a trap door beneath a rock prop and held it above his head. “You can't find an earthbending master in the sky, you have to look underground!” The man threw away the prop.

Actress Aang asked, “Who are you?”

Actor Toph spat, “My name's Toph,” he flexed his giant muscles, “because it sounds like ‘tough’, and that's just what I am!” The audience laughed and Aika laughed too. That was perfect!

“Wait a minute,” the twelve-year-old earthbender picked at her ear with her pinky. “I sound like a guy... A really buff guy.”

Katara smiled smugly and crossed her arms over her chest, “Well Toph, what you hear up there is the truth. It hurts, doesn't it?”

“Are you kidding me? I wouldn't have cast it any other way!” She laughed as Katara looked away in dismay. “At least it's not a flying bald lady!” She teased Aang, who turned toward the stage in annoyance. Aika was back to laughing into Zuko’s chest again.

The scene swapped to Actor Zuko and Actor Iroh, with the Zuko character no longer wearing the mask of his scar and now sporting a large wig. “Zuko, it’s time we had a talk… about your hair, it has gone too far! And what happened to your giant red scar?” The question was never answered, probably because no one knew how he was really healed except Team Avatar. It’s not like Zuko ever told anyone.

Real Zuko frowned but was again comforted subtly by Aika. The Ember Island players rotated through the Drill scene, a really inaccurate portrayal of Lake Laogai and ended up in the Crystal Catacombs with Katara and Zuko’s actors.

Actress Katara announced, “I have to admit Prince Zuko, I really find you attractive!” Aika snorted.

Actor Zuko was sitting on a rock bench. “You don't have to make fun of me.”

“But I mean it!” Actress Katara sat down with Actor Zuko. “I've had eyes for you since the day you first captured me!” Zuko and Katara looked at each other and then quickly looked away from each other, slightly uncomfortable. Aang narrowed his eyes and Aika covered her mouth with her hand.

Actor Zuko stood up, “Wait, I thought you were the Avatar's girl!” Aang nodded.

Actress Katara laughed, “The Avatar?” She stood up and walked toward Actor Zuko. “Why, he's like a little brother to me! I certainly don't think of him in a romantic way.” Aang frowned and Aika turned her face back into Zuko’s chest again, her shoulders shaking once more. This time, Zuko was really concerned that she was crying. Actress Katara continued, “Besides, how could he ever find out about... this?” 

Actress Katara tried to embrace Actor Zuko, but the man jumped back, “No, I have a girlfriend.”

Aika was still shaking and Zuko was now really scared when he felt wet patches grow on his shirt. “Aika, Tora, you know that’s not really what happened. I swear to you. It never happe-”

He cut off when Aika lifted her face to show that she was indeed crying, but from laughter. Like a full-bellied, tears streaming down her face type of laughter where sound and breathing had become optional. He was almost afraid she wasn’t breathing! When the curtains fell and the second intermission started, Aika’s uproarious laughter boomed out as they stood up and left the theatre room, Toph joining in. The two girls were in hysterics, clinging onto each other and every time they would stop, they would start up all over again. Gasping for air, Aika mumbled, “Zuko… and Katara… Oh, Merlin, I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe!” 

Toph cackled. “Best comedy ever!”

The Fire Prince didn’t know how to react honestly. He was absolutely thrilled to see that Aika was not upset by the stupid play, but at the same time, he didn’t like having his mistakes thrown back into his face all over again. He reminded himself that he had redeemed himself, that he had made better choices since his failure by siding with Azula. He looked down at his better choice and watched as her face lit up in glee. Yeah, just a stupid play.

It was the final act. And finally, Aika was in it. Acting unconscious, the character was dragged on stage by two background actors who played soldiers. Actress Azula said, “Kill the peasant!”

Actor Zuko shouted, “No, sister Azula. This is my girlfriend!” 

The scene changed to obviously portray the Fire Nation. The actress who played the energy-bender was actually not that bad looking. She was pretty similar in build and had a wig for Aika’s hair, although it was a much brighter red than hers. She proclaimed, “I am Aika and I will fight to marry Zuko!” Okay, a bit over the top, but Aika didn’t care. And she loved the scene of the Agni Kai, where Actress Aika triumphed over Actress Azula. Toph nudged her excitedly and Zuko pulled her closer. Actress Aika stated, “I have won against the Princess!” Sokka patted her on the shoulder. Aika turned to look at her younger brother and he faked wiping a tear from his eye in pride.

An actor who was obviously meant to be Ozai announced, “The wedding shall take place in two weeks!” There was a brief wedding scene after that, and Aika laughed at how cringe-worthy it was. Then it was the failed invasion plot when they believed Zuko and Aika defected to the Avatar’s side. The writer and director obviously couldn’t get an accurate picture on Aika, because Actress Aika was a bit all over the place. She was depicted as a middle between Toph and Katara, but the director had done it horribly, by making her very lovey-dovey with Zuko one minute, and smashing people’s heads together in the next. Okay, she could be a bit mercurial at times, but on occasion, she was also the voice of reason. Nevertheless, the energy-bender took it all in stride, continuing to laugh with Toph happily. She may be seen as an over the top romantic with anger management issues, but there were worse things to be!

Finally, it was all caught up to the present. Sokka stood up and stretched, “I guess that's it. The play's caught up to the present now.”

Suki grabbed his arm and pulled him back into his seat, “Wait, the play's not over!”

Sokka frowned, “But it is over, unless…” he gasped dramatically, “this is the future.”

It wasn’t a pleasant future, Aika had to admit. The Ember Island Players really knew how to turn a good show morbid. Between Actor Zuko and Actress Aika’s death at the hands of Actress Azula and the defeat of Actress Aang by Actor Ozai, it looked pretty fucking grim. The audience absolutely adored the ending and gave a standing ovation. Team Avatar remained seated, and filed out of the theatre quietly, shoulders hunched slightly and expressions all downcast. 

They had already trudged a few blocks away back towards the beach house when someone broke the sombre silence. “That ... wasn't a good play,” Zuko muttered. Druk rubbed his tiny head against Zuko’s cheek in comfort, still invisible to everyone. He wanted to reach up and pat the dragon, but knew it would look weird to anyone who passed them on the street.

“I'll say.”

“No kidding.”

“Horrible.”

“You said it.”

“But the effects were decent!” Everyone scowled at Sokka.

Aika rolled her eyes, “Oh cheer up guys! You know that’s not how our story is going to end. Aang, you have almost mastered all four elements and you have control over the Avatar State. Toph, you now have metalbending and we know how much the Fire Nation loves metal. Katara, you have mastered waterbending and you are creative and innovative in how you use it. Zuko, you are now more powerful than ever since we have been practising and you went to see the Sun Warrior temple with Aang and I. Sokka, Suki, you both are brilliant at battle strategy and your weapons of choice. And you have me, an energy-bender. Aang, it’s meant to be your destiny to restore balance, but honestly, prophecies are overrated. If you want, I can go take down Ozai right now and no one could really stop me.”

When she put it like that… Everyone’s dejected and upset expressions slowly converted into smiles. “You would do that for me?” Aang asked.

Aika stood up straighter, took out her wand, twirling it in her fingers for a more dramatic effect and proudly proclaimed, “Call me your backup plan, Avatar Aang.”


	29. Time's Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who commented and liked this story! I'm sorry that I haven't posted until now, I've been crazy busy at work and then went into surgery. With my recovery period, I'm hoping to smash out the editing of this work and then hopefully the story will be a lot better :) One more chapter to go! 
> 
> Shout out to MistressOfDeath! She's created an amazing story called The Last Energybender! (I've never had one of my stories be the inspiration for another one before and I am absolutely thrilled! It's awesome!)

“I leave you alone for ten minutes and you guys destroy half the villa?”

Zuko rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Everyone had gathered around, having watched Zuko attack Aang like a crazy person. “Just training, Tora.”

Aika raised a brow. “Training?” she deadpanned. 

He nodded. “Yeah, he’s gotta face my father in a few days, and Dear Old Dad isn’t gonna go easy on him.”

She rolled her eyes and surveyed that damage that was done to the building, taking out her wand. “Nothing a quick spell can’t fix I suppose. Reparo.” Scorch marks disappeared and walls, roof tiles and other broken pieces of furniture knitted themselves back together. 

“I love energy-bending,” Sokka murmured. Suki and Katara nodded in agreement.

When everything was pieced together, the airbender turned to the firebender and demanded, “What’s wrong with you?!”

“What's wrong with me? What's wrong with all of you? How can you sit around having beach parties when Sozin's Comet is only three days away?” Everyone but Aika looked at Zuko. “Why are you all looking at me like I'm crazy?”

Aang responded, “About Sozin's Comet ... I was actually gonna wait to fight the Fire Lord until after it came.”

“After?”

“I'm not ready. I need more time to master firebending.” The airbender shrugged and looked down in slight shame.

Toph had to chip in, “And frankly, your earthbending could still use some work too.” Aang grimaced.

“So, you guys figured Aang would wait?” Aika asked. Of course, she knew as well, but she had to act like she didn’t.

Sokka looked at her like she was daft. “Honestly, if Aang tries to fight the Fire Lord now, he's going to lose.” Aang glared at Sokka as he said this, frowning, and then closed his eyes in defeat. Seeing his expression, Sokka backtracked. “No offense.”

“The whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the Comet was to stop the Fire Nation from winning the War, but they pretty much won the War when they took Ba Sing Se. Things can't get any worse,” Katara articulated.

“You're wrong.” The Fire Prince turned to Aika with a defeated expression and she placed a hand on his arm in comfort and nodded her head to signal that he should tell them. “It's about to get worse than you can even imagine. When I got back to the Fire Nation, it was like I had never left. A few days before our wedding, my father invited me to attend an important war meeting, where he decided that he was going to use the power of Sozin’s Comet to destroy the Earth Kingdom.”

Suki whispered, “What do you mean, destroy?”

Aika took over, mumbling, “He wants to raze it, burn everything to the ground.”

Zuko inclined his head in confirmation. “That decision shattered the last remaining bit of loyalty that I had for my father and the Fire Nation. I told Aika that I wanted in on her espionage of the Fire Nation after that and haven’t looked back since.”

Aika chuckled and whispered so only he heard, “Too bad those listening charms faded. I had almost every room in the palace bugged.” The prince smirked back.

Katara fell to her knees in horror, “I can't believe this.”

“I always knew the Fire Lord was a bad guy, but his plan is just pure evil.”

“What am I gonna do?”

Aika clapped her hands together once loudly, catching everyone’s attention. “Okay, everyone, let’s not get too much into our heads over this. We are gonna whip your ass in the best shape possible, Aang, and then we are gonna do this together. Since Sokka and I are the ‘plan’ guys, we are gonna come up with a plan to get us as prepared as possible.” She turned to Zuko, “Can you teach Aang lighting redirection? I figure he’s gonna need that one against your father.”

The prince nodded to her as the Water Tribe boy hopped up and walked over to his older sister. She dragged him a little ways away so none of them could make out what they were saying, but they could see their smirks. Zuko taught the airbender how to redirect lightning, but the kid wasn’t so keen on it, gulping when the firebender divulged that he would have to kill the Fire Lord. When the two planners snapped their heads to the others and smiled, everyone gulped.

Sokka clapped his hands to gain their attention. “Gather round, Team Avatar.” He placed a carved melon on a draped mannequin. “In order to take out the Fire Lord - or in this case, the Melon Lord - our timing has to be perfect.” He knelt down on the ground and used a stick to draw a line heading toward the Melon Lord symbol. “First, Suki and I will draw his fire. Then, Katara, Aika and Zuko charge in with some liquidy hot energy offence, and while the Melon Lord is distracted, Aang swoops in ... and bam!” As he spoke, he drew lines and finally destroyed the Melon Lord symbol. “He delivers the final blow.”

“Uh ... what about me?” Toph asked.

“For now, you're the Melon Lord's forces.”

This excited the earthbender, “So I get to chuck flaming rocks at all of you?”

“Whatever makes the training feel more realistic,” Sokka shrugged.

“Sweetness.” 

Aika stepped in, “I actually think I’m gonna sit the one out, guys. Not that I don’t want to train you, but considering… It’s probably best if you guys train and are able to give it your all, instead of me just… Well.” They nodded in understanding. The energy-bender instead took Druk from around Zuko’s neck and the tiny dragon curled up in her arms, looking up at her with the cutest eyes. “Aww, darling. Let’s go get you fed.” The dragon huffed and let out a high-pitched growl, but it sounded more like a bird’s chirp. “Yes we will!” she said, speaking in a baby tone and rubbing her nose against the dragon’s, walking away.

“Is it just me or is that weird?” Sokka asked everyone. They were all looking in the direction the energy-bender had just left in, unable to believe that they had just seen that.

Zuko let out a breath in annoyance. “No, it’s not just you. She baby’s that dragon. I could almost swear she loves it more than me,” he joked.

“Moving on…” Katara mumbled. “Ready?”

About ten minutes later, Toph was set up in front of the dummy Melon Lord, surrounded by boulders coated in grease with small bowls of fire set out in front of each boulder. “Mwah-ha-ha-ha!” she cackled evilly. Aika chuckled under her breath from her spot on the other hill. At her feet, Druk was gobbling down a bowl of fire-roasted meat. She wasn't surprised that Toph was really getting into her character.

Katara and Zuko looked at Aang and Momo, who looked at Suki and Sokka. Sokka signalled to the others to start moving. Sokka and Suki ran toward the Melon Lord but were confronted by stone ‘Fire Nation’ soldiers, who suddenly rose out of the ground. With a quick slice of his sword, Sokka cut one stone soldier in half and Suki kicked down another one. They kept running, but a large burning rock boulder fell out of the sky. Suki jumped over the boulder. Sokka found himself fallen down just a few inches away from the flaming boulder and jumped up.

“Watch it, Toph!” he shouted.

“I am not Toph. I am Melon Lord! Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!” Toph lit a second boulder on fire and sent it through the air at Zuko and Katara. Zuko and Katara ran around the boulder but became surrounded by a circle of stone ‘Fire Nation’ soldiers, which they quickly destroyed.

“Now, Aang!” Sokka yelled. Aang jumped, preparing to strike the Melon Lord with his glider staff. The airbender looked at the Melon Lord and his expression changed from anger to uncertainty. When he landed, Aang stopped his attack just before smashing the Melon Lord and backed away.

Zuko cried, “What are you waiting for? Take him out!”

The Avatar shook his head, “I can't.”

They all walked up to the top of the hill, and when Sokka reached the boy, he said, “What's wrong with you? If this was the real deal, you'd be shot full of lightning right now.”

“I'm sorry, but it just didn't feel right. I didn't feel like myself.”

Sokka took out his sword and Aang winced when he heard squishing sounds. “There, that's how it's done.” A piece of melon fell on the ground near the Melon Lord. Momo hopped over and slurped some melon juice out of the piece. The Avatar was horrified.

“Anyone find him?” Aika called through the villa as she ran to meet up where they had congregated on the beach. She was slightly panicking that she could no longer feel the connection with her little brother through the tracking bracelet. Logically, she knew he would be fine, but she couldn’t help it. One of her family was gone and she was having small flashbacks to when she had found out her parents had been ripped from her violently. It’s not like they were living in a golden palace. They were in the middle of a war, where he was the head figure.

“No. It's like he just... disappeared,” Katara mumbled despairingly.

“Hey, wait a minute. Has anyone noticed that Momo is missing, too?” Toph commented.

Sokka turned towards Appa. “Oh no! I knew it was only a matter of time! Appa ate Momo!” He lifted up the bison’s mouth. “Momo, I'm coming for you, buddy.”

“Sokka, Appa didn't eat Momo. He's probably with Aang.” Katara rolled her eyes at her brother.

“That's just what Appa wants you to think.” The teen proceeded to climb into Appa's mouth. Aika snorted in laughter.

Unamused, Zuko deadpanned,“Get out of the bison's mouth, Sokka. We have a real problem here. Aang is nowhere to be found and the comet is only two days away.”

“What should we do Zuko?” Katara asked. Suki and Toph turned to stare at Zuko, but Aika looked slightly confused. Behind them, Sokka slipped out of Appa's mouth, covered in bison saliva. 

The firebender shrugged, “I don't know.” They kept staring. “Why are you all looking at me?”

Katara said abashedly, “Well, you are kind of the expert on tracking Aang.”

“Yeah, if anyone's got experience hunting the Avatar... it's you.” Sokka tried standing up, but fell back down. Taking pity on the poor teen, Aika cleaned him up. Zuko nodded, accepting that statement.

So that was how they ended up on Appa’s back flying along the coast, led by Zuko. “Zuko, I don't wanna tell you how to do your job, but why are we heading towards the Earth Kingdom? There's no way Aang's there,” the water tribe boy mentioned.

“Just trust me.”

Zuko’s genius idea of using the shirshu turned out to be a bust to track Aang, but he used it instead to find his Uncle. He knew that Aika had given him the key to get out that one time they had visited him in prison, but he had never mentioned it to her. It was getting dark by the time they made it to the Outer Walls of Ba Sing Se, so he suggested they make camp. 

This time, they didn’t use Aika’s tent, because it would be too much of a hassle in the morning and was harder to defend. Instead, Aika conjured sleeping bags, bedrolls, blankets and pillows for everyone, and Toph even built them a giant Earth tent for shelter against nature. Being much more in tune with the ground, she was the first to sense something was wrong outside.

She jumped up, awake and alert, the things that Aika had conjured last night fading away into nothingness as soon as the girl got up. That was handy. “Guys, get up!”

They all jumped up too, reaching for their various weapons (if needed) and Toph lowered the tent. They were greeted by a wall of fire surrounding them; they were trapped. A small shuffle of feet alerted the team that they were not alone and they all whirled to their left and glanced up. They were all surprised to see Piandao, Jeong Jeong, Pakku, and King Bumi.

“Well, look who's here!” Bumi cackled, snorting. Suki, Toph and Zuko were completely confused, while Katara, Sokka and Aika all smiled at the King.

Confused and feeling the three’s excitement, Toph asked, “What's going on? We're surrounded by old people.”

Katara proclaimed proudly, “Not just any old people!” The girl walked up to Pakku. “These are great masters and friends of ours.” She bowed to her old waterbending master. “Pakku.”

The man bowed back. “It is respectful to bow to an old master,” he extended his arms out, “but how about a hug for your new grandfather?”

Surprised and overjoyed, Katara beamed, as did Sokka behind her. Giving him a hug, she replied, “That's so exciting! You and Gran-Gran must be so happy to have found each other again!”

“I made her a new betrothal necklace and everything.”

The teen boy ran up and hugged Pakku. “Welcome to the family, Gramp-Gramp!”

The old man gently pushed Sokka away, slightly annoyed. “You can still just call me Pakku.”

“How about Grand-Pakku?”

Not amused, the older man stated, “No.” The boy walked away, slightly dejected, over to the girl with red hair. Pakku suppressed a shudder when Aika’s eyes pierced his. They seemed to be a different colour, but he was far enough away that he couldn’t see them clearly. Nevertheless, he felt as if those eyes could see his soul. That was… concerning, especially for someone her age.

As Zuko walked up to Jeong Jeong, Katara announced, “And this was Aang's first firebending teacher.”

The man introduced himself, bowing, “Jeong Jeong.” Zuko bowed back, and he didn’t fail to notice the slight glare that the ex-Admiral sent to his wife. He stepped back and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her into his side. 

Beside them, Sokka bowed to Piandao. “Master Piandao.”

The man bowed back. “Hello, Sokka.”

From behind the masters, Suki remarked, “So wait. How do you all know each other?”

“All old people know each other. Don't you know that?” the earthbending King laughed and snorted.

Rolling his eyes, Piandao revealed, “We're all part of the same ancient secret society. A group that transcends the divisions of the four nations.”

Zuko understood. “The Order of the White Lotus.”

“That's the one!” Bumi confirmed.

Jeong Jeong disclosed, “The White Lotus has always been about philosophy and beauty and truth. But about a month ago, a call went out that we were needed for something important.”

Pakku walked closer, Sokka and Katara behind him and turned to Zuko, “It came from a Grand Lotus: your uncle, Iroh of the Fire Nation.” The Prince smiled at the mention of his uncle and Aika discreetly squeezed his waist.

Toph meandered up to stand on Aika’s other side. “Well, that's who we're looking for.”

Piandao nodded, “Then we'll take you to him.”

Bumi suddenly appeared from behind Piandao and Jeong Jeong and pushed them out of the way. “Wait! Someone's missing from your group. Someone very important. Where's Momo?”

Sokka, leaning backwards almost all the way, as Bumi was right in his face, mumbled, “He's gone. And so is Aang.”

The crazy King shrugged, “Oh well.” He pat Sokka on the chest and caused him to almost trip and fall back. “So long as they have each other, I'm sure we have nothing to worry about. Let's go!” He slammed into the ground and launched himself away using earthbending while laughing and snorting.

Toph, looking up at her big sister declared, “I like that guy!”

Aika snorted, “You’ll get along splendidly.”

They were taken to the White Lotus campsite on the Out Walls of Ba Sing Se. Bumi lowered a rock wall to allow everyone entrance inside the camp. Stepping in, he announced, “Well, here we are. Welcome to Old People Camp.”

As Zuko spoke his next words, Jeong Jeong and Pakku walked off and Appa stopped behind Zuko, Aika and Piandao. “Where ... where is he?”

The swordmaster pointed to a tent on the other side of the camp. “Your uncle's in there, Prince Zuko.”

Suddenly an overwhelming feeling of worry threatened to overtake the firebender. He hadn’t really patched things up with his uncle when he was in prison, and it was Aika who helped him escape from there, not him. Zuko approached the tent before stopping just outside it. Sighing, he sat down. Aika walked up to him and knelt beside him. “Are you okay?”

He exhaled deeply, “Yeah. I’m okay. Just…” He couldn’t really articulate his feelings, but nonetheless, she nodded in understanding. He smiled sadly, “Come with me?” She intertwined her fingers with his in confirmation and touched the spot around his neck, revealing the sleeping Druk. “Why?”

Aika smirked, “I figured you would want to show your uncle your new friend.”

He chuckled, standing and brought their twined hands up so he could kiss the back of hers lightly. She grinned and confidently, he pulled her into the tent, calling softly, “Uncle?”

They chuckled lowly when they heard snoring and sat down next to the man, Aika conjuring a chair for them. Instead of letting her sit on her own, he pulled her onto his lap, not wanting to let her go for a second. 

Slowly, the old general woke up and stretched, glancing back slightly to see the couple perched there, but he said nothing. Taking a deep breath, Zuko began, “Uncle, I know you must have mixed feelings about seeing me. But I want you to know, I am so, so, sorry, Uncle. I am so sorry and ashamed of what I did. I don't know how I can ever make it up to you. But I'll-”

He was cut off when his uncle pulled him into a hug, bringing Aika with them. She chuckled softly and wriggled out of the hug and off his lap, letting his uncle pull him closer. Pulling back, Zuko was a little shocked and confused when he saw the giant smile on his uncle’s face. “How can you forgive me so easily? I thought you would be furious with me.”

“I was never angry with you, Zuko. I was sad because I was afraid you lost your way.”

“I did lose my way.”

“But you found it again. And I am so happy you found your way here.” Suddenly noticing the red scarf around his nephew’s neck was not a scarf at all, the general gasped. “Zuko… is that?”

With perfect timing, Druk took that moment to open his eyes and uncurl from his master’s neck, staring at Iroh in curiosity. “Yeah, Uncle. This is Druk. Druk, meet my Uncle, Iroh.” The baby dragon rumbled in greeting and looked over at Aika, who stretched her hands out for him to climb. 

Unfurling himself further, Druk climbed over her arms and settled on her shoulder. She smirked and pulled out some dried meats for him that they had purchased on Ember Island, giving the reptile a snack. Druk hungrily feasted on it and then climbed down from the girl, intent on exploring his new surroundings. He was a curious little one.

“You… How… Dragon?”

“We found the Sun Warriors, Uncle. Ran and Shaw entrusted Druk to me,” Zuko said proudly. The old general, war-hardened and strong, teared up when he heard that. He was so proud of his nephew. So very proud of the man that he had become.

Team Avatar were perched on logs around a campfire with the old masters, Zuko sitting by Iroh, Sokka and Katara talking to Pakku and Piandao, and Toph was showing Bumi some of her metalbending, with Suki and Aika watching. The old King was very impressed by the twelve-year-old's creativity and showed her a few of his own earthbending tricks. It was an awesome sight, two master earthbenders with totally different styles of fighting giving each other tips and tricks. Actually, Aika was kind of oddly proud that her little sister could give a one-hundred-year-old master a run for his money.

“Uncle, you're the only person other than the Avatar who can possibly defeat the Fire Lord,” Zuko said, catching her attention.

“Hmmm…”

“We need you to come with us!”

Iroh frowned and shook his head, “No, Zuko, it won't turn out well. Even if I did defeat Ozai, and I don't know that I could, it would be the wrong way to end the war. History would see it as just more senseless violence, a brother killing a brother to grab power. The only way for this war to end peacefully is for the Avatar to defeat the Fire Lord.”

“And then... then you would come and take your rightful place on the throne?” the Prince hoped. He honestly didn’t want the throne anymore. Between the last four generations, from Sozin to Azula, the Blazing Throne of the Fire Nation seemed to corrupt whoever sat on it.

“No. Someone new must take the throne. An idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honour. It has to be you, Prince Zuko.”

Zuko snorted, “Unquestionable honour? But I've made so many mistakes.” He looked away and added softly, “And I don’t really want it anyway.”

Iroh acknowledged, “Yes, you have. You've struggled; you've suffered, but you have always followed your own path. You restored your own honour, and only you can restore the honour of the Fire Nation. The mere fact that you do not want the throne shows that you are worthy of this.”

“I'll try, Uncle,” the prince mumbled. He looked at Aika and, seeming to sense his eyes on her, she looked back at him and smiled.

Noticing what his nephew was looking at so intently, the Dragon of the West chuckled, “Behind every great Fire Lord, is an even greater Fire Lady.” Zuko flushed slightly, embarrassed that he had been caught gazing stupidly at his wife. His uncle just chuckled and patted him on the shoulder.

Toph interjected, aiming her question at everyone, “Hey guys, what if Aang doesn't come back?”

The old general observed wisely, “Sozin's Comet is arriving, and our destinies are upon us. Aang will face the Fire Lord. When I was a boy, I had a vision that I would one day take Ba Sing Se. Only now do I see that my destiny is to take it back from the Fire Nation, so the Earth Kingdom can be free again.”

Understanding lit up in Suki’s eyes, “That's why you gathered the members of the White Lotus.”

“Yes. Zuko, you must return to the Fire Nation, so that when the Fire Lord falls, you can assume the throne and restore peace and order. But Azula will be there, waiting for you.”

“I can handle Azula,” the prince declared.

“Not alone! You'll need help.”

Yielding, Zuko inclined his head. “You're right, Uncle.” He smiled and turned to his wife, “Tigress, how would you like to help me put Azula in her place?”

Her resulting smile was all teeth. “It would be my genuine pleasure,” she purred. Pakku was not proud to say that a bit of the tremor that ran up his spine showed visibly.

“What about us?” Sokka questioned from where he sat next to Toph and Katara. “What is our destiny today?”

“What do you think it is?” Iroh posed back.

“I think that, even though we don't know where Aang is, we need to do everything we can to stop the airship fleet,” the Water Tribe boy said, with steelier nerves than Aika had ever heard from the teen.

Toph added, “And that means when Aang does face the Fire Lord, we'll be right there if he needs us.” Katara nodded in agreement.

“Guys, come here.”

Toph, Sokka, Katara, Suki and Zuko gathered around the energy-bender curiously. They were getting ready to go face the Fire Nation army, so it had to be important for her to call them all. “What’s wrong, Aika?” Katara asked.

Aika shook her head and bit her lip. “Nothing, just… Give me your hand, Katara. The one with the bracelet I gave you.” Katara lifted her arm to hold in front of her and the energy-bender took out her wand. “Portus,” Aika whispered and the bracelet flashed cyan blue for a millisecond. She did the same with the Sokka and Toph, but handed Suki her own bracelet, already charmed like the others. It wasn’t as intricate as her siblings’ but it would do in a pinch. “If you guys find yourselves in a situation that you can’t handle, touch the bracelet and whisper my name. It will bring you to me. But be careful, it will also bring along anyone holding onto you.”

They nodded gravely and thanked her, before heading back to continue their final preparations. It was more than they could hope for considering where they were heading. Zuko smirked, “What about me? I don’t get one too?”

Aika huffed softly in amusement and teased, “Well, I don’t anticipate being separated from you in this fight, but considering how needy you are…” She grabbed his left hand gently and slipped a gold ring on his finger. It had a thick band with intricate carvings of flames in it and a single tiny ruby inside one of the flames. Since she placed it on the finger next to his pinky, the same one she wore her ring on, he figured that it held some significance in her world, but he didn’t comment on it and neither did she.

Toph, Katara and Suki were sitting on board an eel hound, Sokka and Piandao on the ground beside it. The swordmaster asserted, “Nothing runs faster over land or swims quicker than a giant eel hound.” He handed Sokka a map, who examined it. “The airship base is on a small island just off the Earth Kingdom shore. You should be able to intercept the fleet within a day's journey.

As he put the map away, Sokka responded, “Thank you, Master.” The two bowed to each other before Sokka hugged Piandao. 

Nearby, Appa stood, waiting for his command, with Zuko upfront and Aika already in the saddle. “So if I'm going to be Fire Lord after the war is over, what are you going to do?” Zuko asked, his tone slightly joking.

Iroh smiled wistfully, “After I reconquer Ba Sing Se, I'm going to reconquer my tea shop, and I'm going to play Pai Sho every day.” He took out a Pai Sho piece from his sleeve and caught it as he spoke. The Lotus tile. The old man could resist teasing, “And hopefully, one day, I’m going to look after my grand-nieces and nephews.” Aika’s eyes widened, she blushed and looked away. Zuko chuckled nervously and couldn’t look his uncle in the eye after that. His nephew’s little dragon rumbled in goodbye to the old man. “Goodbye to you too, Druk.”

When the Fire Prince climbed onto Appa and called out the command, the bison took to the skies, the two waving goodbye to the rest of their friends and family. Katara and Aika caught each other’s eyes briefly and both understood their silent pact. Protect them, no matter what. They now had their portkeys and Katara knew to call Aika using her tracking bracelet if they needed her.

“Goodbye, General Iroh,” they called, just before the eel hound took off.

“Goodbye, everyone. Today, destiny is our friend.” Iroh whispered to himself, “I know it.”

Zuko and Aika were flying on Appa briskly through the orange-coloured sky. Aika turned to Zuko upon seeing his worried and somewhat anxious expression.

“Love, don't worry. We can take Azula.”

“It's not her I'm worried about,” he confessed. “I'm worried about Aang. What if he doesn't have the guts to take out my father? What if he loses?”

Confidently, she stated, “Aang won't lose. He's gonna come back. He has to. Or I’ll raise hell.”

The firebender rolled his eyes. Because of course she would.

“By decree of Phoenix King Ozai, I now crown you Fire Lord…” The Sage suddenly paused and looked ahead. Azula turned her head to face him.

Somewhat annoyed, she sneered, “What are you waiting for? Do it!” Hearing a familiar roar, Azula turned back around to see the Avatar’s bison landing in the plaza courtyard. Her expression twisted into one of annoyance and disgust when she saw her brother, the traitor, standing on the back of the bison. It wasn’t a pretty sight to see on the princess’s face.

“Sorry, but you're not gonna become Fire Lord today.” The Fire Prince jumped off Appa. “I am.”

Azula rolled her eyes and laughed, “You're hilarious. Did you think you could stop me, Zuzu?”

Aika jumped down off the bison as well and Azula’s smirk died on her lips. Aika clicked her tongue, “You don’t look happy to see your dear sister-in-law, Lala. Can I call you that? Zuko mentioned he used to call you that. Family have nicknames for each other after all.”

Azula growled. Who did this common peasant think she was? Behind her, the Fire Sage was just about to crown Azula the new Fire Lord, regardless that Aika and Zuko had just interrupted until Azula signalled with her hand for him to stop. She grinned maniacally at her brother, “Wait. You want to be Fire Lord? Fine. Let's settle this. Just you and me, brother. The showdown that was always meant to be. Agni Kai!”

“You're on,” he declared seriously.

Aika turned to face Zuko, very surprised. Out of the corner of her eye, the energy-bender caught Azula's lips as they formed a sly smile. “What are you doing? She's playing you. She knows she can't take us both, so she's trying to separate us.”

“I know. But I can take her this time.” He frowned thoughtfully and looked at his sister once more. “There's something off about her; I can't explain it but she's slipping. And this way, no one else has to get hurt. Namely, you.”

Aika rolled her eyes, “Oh please. You think she can hurt me?”

Zuko conceded that point, “Okay, fine. But this way, no one can contest that I am not the Fire Lord.”

With one more scrutinizing glance at the sociopathic Fire Princess, Aika nodded. “Alright, love, but I’m stepping in if I have to. And if you die, I’ll bring you back just to kill you myself.” He smirked and discreetly passed Druk over to Aika.

“Ready, Zuzu?” Azula called. He nodded. “Get into position then. I don’t have all day, you know.” As Aika moved to the side and out of the way, Zuko knelt on one end, and Azula knelt on the other end of the courtyard. She watched as her husband stood up and turned around; Azula did the same, taking off her Fire Lord garments. Slightly sarcastic, she stated, “I'm sorry it has to end this way, brother.”

Getting in his preferred stance, the Prince scoffed, “No you're not.”

Azula smiled maliciously and assumed an awkward fighting stance. Suddenly, she spun and sent a blast of blue fire toward Zuko. Zuko brought his hands up and jumped forward, bringing his arms down in front of him. He bended an orange flame in each hand and sent the fire careening toward Azula. Two walls of fire collided directly in front of Aika and she conjured a shimmering cyan shield to protect herself from the heat. As the wall began to die, Azula leapt up on a jet of fire and kicked her legs forward, sending a wave of fire from her feet during each of her three spinning kicks.

Using techniques he learned from his wife, he took control of the blue flames and sent them flying away from him. Soon enough, orange and blue flames blasted powerfully toward each other, extra energy granted to both firebenders from the Comet. A building caught on fire, burning blue while another one nearby blazed orange. Zuko punched another strong blast of fire toward his sister. His stream of orange blended with a blast of blue. Unfortunately, even though Azula’s movements were not as graceful and masterful as usual, she was still powerful and her continuous assault started pushing Zuko back. He continued shooting fire while being pushed back by the blue flames colliding with his. He turned his foot around in order to steady himself and a powerful fire blast exploded from his fist.

Aika gasped softly, but as if they heard her surprise, the Prince and Princess stopped their attacks. Somewhat scared and confused, Azula turned around to find that Zuko's strong attack caused the plaza behind her to be smothered in flames. Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, she leapt forward with a blast of fire that she swung at Zuko. Just as he was about to be hit, Zuko thrust his palms outward to create a wall of fire that sliced through the blue flame. 

The energy-bender observed Azula crouched on the ground, heavily panting and then the Fire Princess gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes in determination. Zuko didn’t wait around for Azula to catch her breath, opening his left fist, and with the other fist he punched two large fireballs toward Azula, and the fire emerged to create one massive blast. Azula's fear-filled eyes reflected with orange from the oncoming attack. At the last second, she dodged using a jet of blue fire. She flew forward into the air, using jets of fire from her feet and hands. Aika had to admit that it looked pretty cool. She briefly wondered if she could fly using fire. Eh, she’d practice later. Then again, she should be able to command the energy in the other elements as well, so maybe she could ask Aang to help her fly.

Snapping back out her musings, she saw Zuko crouched with his arms outward, blue and orange flames swirling around him. Azula flew toward him and she swerved to the right to dodge Zuko's next blast. The Princess circled him, a trail of blue fire coming from her feet. Zuko quickly defended himself by creating a shield of fire for protection. He tried to attack Azula, who is still circling him, but she was too fast. Reassessing his attack strategy, he stopped firing at Azula, crouched, and began spinning and kicking immense and powerful flames from his feet. Azula was flying forward; when she saw the attack, she tried to stop, but it was too late. Azula fell and rolled forward onto the ground, groaning in pain. Picking herself up, she was hunched over, her hair undone and her face was contorted in anger.

Angrily, Zuko mocked, “No lightning today? What's the matter?” Quickly he assumed his lightning redirection stance. “Afraid I'll redirect it?”

“Oh, I'll show you lightning!” Azula growled.

At that moment, Azula waved and moved her fingertips in order to generate lightning, but her stance was irregular and off. The Prince inhaled and exhaled deeply as he prepared to redirect whatever lightning came his way. As he was doing so, Aika moved closer to the two, preparing to step in if her husband needed it. Suddenly, lights began flickering around them as Azula charged her lightning. She finished charging, but at the last second, Aika saw the Azula glance fleetingly in her direction and pooled her energy in her hands. Azula, still in her stance and ready to strike, lightning at her fingertips, smiled and extended her arm to shoot the blast directly at Aika.

Almost as if in slow-motion, the lightning emerged from Azula and hurtled across the courtyard. It was Zuko’s instinct to rush in front of his wife and take the blast for her, but he stopped himself just in time. Aika once again took control of the energy in the lightning bolt, curled it around herself and sent it speeding back to the Princess. Azula didn’t have time to dodge completely, and it hit her in the side, sending her crashing to the ground.

“Really? You’d think she’d learn.” The energy-bender looked at Zuko. “May I?”

He waved his hand in his sister’s direction. “Go ahead, tigress.”

“ _Stupefy._ ” The crazy princess, who was struggling to stand, suddenly collapsed, stunned. All a bit anticlimactic really, but she couldn’t help but feel sympathy for Azula. Maybe she could help her... but not today. She turned to Zuko, “ You okay?”

The Fire Prince, soon to be crowned the Fire Lord, smirked and pulled his wife close for a deep kiss, showing her just how fine he was.


End file.
